So, why do we have a firebender on our team again?
by Zantetsuken Reverse
Summary: After an accident with a magical pentagram, the Baltics, Sealand, Prussia, and England end up in the Avatar universe... separated! After being rescued by Sealand and Sokka, what's there for a small nation like Latvia to do? Join Team Avatar, of course! But what is his strange new ice power? What was the strange candle England had? And who's Canada, again? Rated K for language
1. Chapter 1

I've been planning this for ages. It began with only Canada as the main character, but it turned into this. I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I do not own Hetalia. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 (Latvia POV)

I thought that today would be a normal meeting. Terrifying, with Mr. Russia there, and Ms. Belarus holding the knife that she somehow got past security to my neck, but that was completely normal. Estonia managed to keep out of the fray long enough to get away with only a few scratches. Lithuania and I ended up with broken bones, but luckily all three of us managed to sneak away when the knife broke from overuse. According to Ms. Ukraine, it was brand-new from Mr. Switzerland's house. But Ms. Belarus bought a few more from Mr. Switzerland mid-meeting. And they were Swiss Army Knives, which meant that she had _two_ blades _and_ all of the other functions.

By the time the meeting was over, all three of us were beaten and broken from Mr. Russia and Ms. Belarus's abuse.

"Kesesese…"

"P-Prussia!" Lithuania stepped back.

"You thought zat you could escape from my awesomeness?" Prussia shouted to the world.

"Come on, can't you give it a rest…?" Canada said in the background.

"No, because I am awesome!" Prussia declared.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Estonia and I yelled at the same time.

Canada sighed. "And I thought that America had problems…"

"Eh?! You mean that you're not Mr. America?!" Lithuania shouted.

"Who're you?" asked the polar bear that he was carrying.

"I'm Canada…" he said quietly.

"Hey! Jerk-England! Why can't you acknowledge me?" Sealand chased Mr. England obnoxiously.

"Shut up, Sealand," Mr. England muttered.

"Hey, what's this?" Sealand pickpocketed Mr. England's coat, and produced a black candle and a diagram of a … was that a ritual circle?

"Oi! Zese are heretic objects!" Prussia grabbed the candle and the diagram from Sealand's hands. "Zis should be burned ut ze-"

"Give that back!" Mr. England lunged for the paper, but Prussia sidestepped out of his reach.

"Um… Prussia?" Canada whispered. "I really think you should-"

"Kesese!" Prussia took out a cigarette lighter and lit it.

"No! You bloody git, do you have any idea what would happen if-" Mr. England tackled Prussia; taking advantage of the moment where he had to stay still to light the candle, but it was too late. A tiny flickering flame rested upon the wick.

In the confusion, the diagram fluttered to the ground, and began to glow. "Bloody wanker…" Mr. England took out a notepad, scribbled something on it, and tacked it to the wall with one of Ms. Belarus's knives. He removed it, and the pad was still in place. "There." He folded the knife back, and tossed it to me. The circle began to shoot sparks.

Meanwhile, the candle began to emit some sort of force field that surrounded both Prussia and Mr. England. "Oi! Vhat iz going on! Zis iz so un-awesome!" Prussia yelled though it. "Vhy does my chest hurt so much?!"

"Um, Mr. England? What's going on?" asked Lithuania.

"You're the one who needs that the most!" Mr. England said, ignoring Lithuania and Prussia. Was it just me, or was his voice higher than before? It was hard to hear when he was speaking English through that thing. "I don't have time to explain, but just take it! Belarus only used the small blade on that one! It should work fine!"

"What the bloody hell is going on, Jerk-England?!" Sealand yelled.

"Don't worry, whatever you do, make sure that-"

Crackle… Waah! The pentagram had electricity running though it! BOOM!

The light in the room began to fade… my head hurt… I edged toward Sealand… "LATVIAAAAA!"

The world went black.

Ugh… my hands and feet were heavy… someone was dragging me…

"Hey, you! Stop lollygagging and get back in line!"

"Yes sir!"

Was I with some kind of army? Wait… I fainted back there… I coughed.

"Hey, looks like the kid just woke up," someone said.

"Hah… Finally, I'm getting sick of carrying him."

"Hope that kid can pull his own weight!"

There was laughing. I opened my eyes.

I was in… some kind of forest. A group of men in Japanese-like armor were dragging me in chains through the dirt.

"Wh-where am I?!" I cried.

"Ha! The little runt doesn't even know where he is!" There was more laughing.

"Maybe it's a she!" one of them giggled.

"These Earth Kingdom men all look and fight like women, why should their boys be any different?"

Earth Kingdom? Fight like women? Were they at war or something?

"What's your name, little girl?" one of them asked.

"R-Ravis. Ravis Galante," I said, using my human name. It never hurt to use it.

"Ravis? Doesn't sound like an Earth Kingdom name, or a Fire Nation name, for that matter."

"Come to think of it, why are our names similar to Earth Kingdom names?"

"Yeah, I mean, compared to like, Water Tribe and Air Empire [1] names, Earth Kingdom names are like, identical!"

"Wait… so why did you tie me up like this?!" I stuttered.

All eyes were on me. "Because you were out of the village after curfew and you're definitely not a soldier. Who are you?"

I couldn't help it, this was too stressful! I started to tremble the same way I did around Mr. Russia. Even if they weren't nearly as terrifying…

"I said, who are you?! I asked you a question!"

"I told you, I'm Ravis Galante!" I began to cry.

"Aw man, now you made him cry!" one of them said. He was earnest, not sarcastic at all. "Why would you think he was a spy, anyway? He's only ten, after all."

"I-I'm fifteen!" I blurted out.

There was an awkward pause. "D-Did he just say that he's fifteen?"

"Yeah, I heard ya,"

"Come on, he's no shorter than my kid!"

"Your kid's a girl, and she's nine!"

"Hey, did something just fall over here?"

Whack! Someone emerged from the bushes and hit the guy nearest him. "Take that you Fire Nation-"

BOOM! A grenade! "Hey! Ravis! I'm here to rescue you!" Sealand came out of the forest armed with an assault rifle, with a rocket launcher and a sniper rifle strapped to his back. A pair of handguns was strapped to his legs, and his belt was loaded with grenades. I couldn't see his shirt behind all the ammunition belts [2]. Wow, we didn't get as much equipment in the Red… Army…

"Hey! That's my line! And who are you, anyway?!" the other guy- a boy who looked about my age- shouted back.

"I'm Peter! And I'd like to ask the same to you!" he pointed the rifle at him.

"And _why_, would I be afraid of a stick?" the guy asked, blowing him off entirely. Something's not right here… he was wearing some kind of… Inuit clothing without the sleeves, and looked totally out of place here with the Japanese armor. And he didn't know what a gun was?

"Because it can do thi-"

"Turēt tālāk!" I shouted in Latvian instinctively (A/N Hold on). "Don't waste ammunition!"

"Ah, you're right," Sealand said, and locked the gun.

"Hold on, who exactly are you, anyway?" the guy asked.

"I'm Peter Kirkland, and this is Ravis Galante!" Sealand said.

"Okay… but that doesn't explain anything!" the guy said.

"Come on, Sokka, he just told us their names, it's not like we can't trust them," a girl emerged from the brush. "I'm Katara," she said to us.

"Katara!" Sokka said with a strain on his voice. He went closer to her. From my listening ability [3], I heard him say, "They might be Fire Nation spies!"

"Seriously," she said stoically. "Look, Sokka. They can't be older than twelve, and the younger was kidnapped. In _chains_,"

"Younger? He said that he was _fifteen_!" ("I am fifteen!" I protested. "Not helping," Sealand replied)

"And you believe that?"

"Sure, if bending exists, then I can believe anything," Sokka said firmly.

"Yeah? Then _this_ isn't logical?" She uncorked a water cask. Water flowed out…of…it…

"Wh-what the bloody hell was that?!" Sealand jumped back about a meter.

"You see!" Sokka said, like he was one-upping her. "They're-"

"Wait a minute… you've never seen bending?" another kid- he was completely bald, with an arrow tattoo- came from out of the trees. Unlike the other kids, he was wearing something vaguely resembling Tibetan or Chinese Buddhist monks robe.

"Th-that's bending?!" Sealand said, startled. "I thought you meant like a- a- branch or something!"

Sokka looked at us suspiciously. "So you've never seen bending, and you threaten me with a stick. Who are you people, anyway?"

I gave a nervous glance at Sealand, and opened my mouth to explain.

FWOOSH! Something came flying out of the bushes, and landed in front of us! "Hey! Look what I found!"

[1] I used Air Empire instead of Air Nation as taught in Fire Nation Propaganda schools, because 'nation' was already taken. And it's better sounding to take down an empire, right?

The thing with the Earth and Fire nations having similar names stems from the cultures from which they're inspired from. Earth Kingdom=China, Fire Nation=Japan. China introduced writing and stuff to Japan.

[2] Ammunition belt- I have no idea what it's really called, and I'm too lazy to look it up. It's the thing with bullet ammo covering every inch of a belt-like strap. You can see a similar thing feeding into machine guns.

[3] Latvia's listening ability- he can tell where Ukraine is by the sound of her… I prefer not to mention it unless necessary. So he can hear whispers if he strains a bit.

Prussia's the one who's most intent on destroying Iggy's stuff because even if Prussia wasn't that religious, and East Germany, too (I don't know, I've never been to Germany!); he was still created for and because of religion, and so is very religious. The Teutonic Knights were a Crusader group, after all. By extent, America is pretty religious (I think that the first colony was founded for Separatists and/or Puritans), but less so, because of the 'freedom of religion' act that's been passed as a part of his becoming of a nation, the lack of a culture to call his own (This is from the perspective of a [Withheld to protect identity]-American), and many religious minorities (not to say that Germany and Prussia don't have any). Plus, much of America's land as it stands today wasn't first settled by pilgrims.

Where are the others? When in the Avatar timeline are they? And what was that candle? Find out… later. Not necessarily next chapter. But eventually.


	2. Chapter 2

About the title- I couldn't think of a good title at the time. There will be a firebender nation, though! No OCs, though.

I am willing to take reader suggestions. Some episodes are set in stone, but others can have some reader ideas. I'll try to put in as many as possible! But I will not take reader OCs.

Chapter 2 (Sealand POV)

"Look what I found!" the bald kid shouted. I didn't even notice him leave. "It's a path leading directly to Omashu!"

"Omashu?" the rest of us said in unison.

"Yeah! It's the next city on our stop!"

"And you couldn't say it any louder," a new voice said. It was one of the Japanese soldiers!

I drew my standard-issue L9A1 handgun, and fired. The one who spoke fell, but another one got up. "Try th-"

"No!" Latvia stopped me. "Don't vaste bullets; look at what zey are doing!"

I turned. Katara was doing her bending-thing, and smacking the soldiers with water. Sokka hit them with a cricket-bat like stick, and the last kid was sweeping the air with some kind of staff. Before long, all of them were on the ground, knocked out.

"Phew," the bald kid said. "Thanks for the help," he said earnestly. "I'm Aang,"

"You're welcome,"

"So… bye?" Sokka suggested.

"No! I don't want to be alone!" Latvia cried, sobbing wildly. "I-I- I'm scared…"

The trio exchanged glances. "Okay, fine," Sokka said. "You can come, but only as far as Omashu!"

Well, that's a start. "So, which way is Omashu, anyway?" I asked.

Aang looked around, scanning our surroundings. "Let's see… if the rock that's shaped like a duck-bear is there… then the cliff should be over there…"

"So… where're you from?" asked Sokka. "Those are some pretty weird clothes you have on."

I looked down at my own sailor shirt and khakis, and at Latvia's Latvian military uniform. Oh, right. We were intruding on their world, no wonder we have different clothes. "Er, actually, we have a reason for that. You might want to hear this," I said to Aang.

"Huh? Why?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's the only one who knows where Omashu is, we shouldn't distract him," Sokka said.

"Just… let him explain," Latvia whispered.

"To make a long story short, we're from another dimension, we think," I said.

"What?! That's what happened?" He didn't know? Oh, right. He doesn't have an occultist/wizard/black magic user for a brother.

"I think…"

"You think." Clearly, Sokka didn't believe me. "That _really_ convinces me."

Aang popped out between us from nowhere. "What's a dimension?"

I looked at Latvia. This could be a long day…

Later…

"So, there are worlds besides ours, and you're from one of them?" asked Sokka.

"JĀ," said Latvia. "Ve just vant to find the others…"

The three of them looked at each other again. That's the effect that a crying Latvia had on most people. "Okay then," Sokka said regally. "You can come."

"R-really…?" Latvia asked.

"IF you can do something to help us on our mission!" Sokka finished.

Latvia was sweating like crazy. "I-I'm n-not a f-fighter or anysing, b-but Peter and ze osers can fight…"

"And I'm not leaving without Ravis!" I said firmly.

Sokka gave the gun an appraising look. "So, this brought down one Fire Nation soldier, huh,"

"Yep! But it needs bullets, and I only have a limited amount," I said. I picked up an ammunition belt. "See?"

"You need one of those to-"

"No, just a single one of these," I slid off a magazine for my handguns from the ammunition belt, "holds thirteen bullets. Now the bullet," I explained, "is like a metal rock that's accelerated at high speed by the gun. On impact, it can pierce some rocks,"

"Wow…" Sokka stared at it admirably. "Can I… just hold it?"

"Okay," I handed it over. "Just be careful, it can-"

Click. Click. "Huh? It's not working," Sokka was pulling the trigger like how I did.

"It is locked, [1]" Latvia observed. "You have to pull-"

"What did he say not to do?" Katara put her hands on her hips and told him off in a motherly way. She reminded me of Mrs. Weasley… or jerk-England when he was actually trying to be affectionate.

"Um… he never said not to?" Sokka said lamely.

"I was about to!" I yelled. "You have to know what you're doing with guns. You could shoot yourself if you're not careful!"

"It is better not to use it," Latvia mumbled. "It would attract attention…."

"But it's awesome!" Sokka waved it around.

"Stop it!" I tried to grab it, but he held it out of my reach.

"Aw, can't I try it?"

"No! It's really, really dangerous to-"

WHAM! Katara slapped the gun out of Sokka's grip. "All right, that's enough. Do you remember the time you broke your arm trying to run down Icicle Gorge with blades on your shoes? Dad warned you not to, but you still went anyway,"

"Those blades were a GREAT invention!" Sokka argued back. "I attached metal blades on the bottom of my shoes so that I could slide instead of walk in the ice. I called them…" he paused for effect, "Ice slippers! ... They let you slip around on ice, and a slipper is a kind of shoe. Don't you get it?"

"And what did you do? You crashed into a glacier. On _land_,"

"Wait, do you still have a pair?" asked Aang. "Can I try?"

"Yeah, I have them right here!" he showed him a pair of ice skates. "Hey! What are you doing?!" Sokka yelled. I turned around, and Latvia was treating one of the soldiers. "He's a Fire Nation soldier! They're the-"

I shushed him. "He must have a reason," I said. "So, why are you treating him, anyway?"

Latvia trembled more. "I-it's because… they…"

"Spit it out already! Why are you helping him?!"

Wait a minute… I examined the solider. "This is the one I shot!"

I turned to Latvia. "Ravis? Are you helping him because I shot him?"

He nodded jerkily. "L-look," he made a quick gesture at Sokka to come.

"What am I supposed to…" he trailed off. "Old Man Ocean [2], what's wrong with him?!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Sealand's gun- I am no expert on guns, but let's just say that this one has a safety mechanism

[2] Old Man Ocean is a made-up god. I just picked the laziest name I could think of.

What is wrong with the soldier? Why did Latvia know? And since when did Sokka invent the ice skate?


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, the ailment was a little unimaginative. But it's logical, and you didn't see it coming with your imagination, right? That's not a challenge, for those of you who guess correctly. Have a virtual slice of apple pie. I made some.

Note- I'm now using the dub accents for the characters. Prussia's is a German accent, and Sealand and England have an English one. Lithuania has an on-and-off Russian-ish accent, and all three Baltics have pronunciation/vocal accents that can't be written.

For this fic- when referring to the personification, I use the word nation, but when referring to the land itself, I use the word country.

Chapter 3 (Latvia POV)

"What's wrong with him?!" cried Sokka.

The spot where the bullet hit the soldier's body was practically invisible though all the blood. His armor was pierced straight through. It had the strength to stop spear thrusts and sword strokes, but this… "This…" I thought out loud, "This wound should not exist,"

"What?!" shouted Sokka. "Then how did he- why is he like this?!"

`"T-the- that bullet was not supposed to be here," I said. "N-nothing in this world can help him."

"What?! You mean he's gonna- he's gonna d-die?!" Aang panicked.

"Not if I can help it!" said Sealand, and took off the shirt of another soldier, who was thankfully male. "Do you think this can stop the bleeding?"

"J-Ja," I said, and pressed it onto him. "C-can you hear me?" I said to the man.

"Y-yes…" he replied feebly.

"Labi, st-stay awake as long as possible," I said, awkward with ordering him. (Labi means good in Latvian)

"Y-you don't n-need to t-tell me tw-twice," he stuttered. "Agh!"

"Can't we do anything?!" ranted Sokka.

"Yeah, someone's dying here, we can't just sit around and do nothing!" added Aang.

"Not unless you can stop him from bleeding, or heal him!" Sealand snapped back.

"Wait a minute…" Sokka stared off into space, thinking. "I got it! Katara, use your waterbending to keep the blood inside his body!"

Katara hung her head. "I'm sorry. My waterbending skills aren't good enough yet. I can't keep water still, it has to flow, or turn it into ice,"

"Well, you gotta do something! There's a man, he's on the ground, and he's bleeding to death!"

We cleared off more of the blood, but it kept coming. Finally, Katara swept her arms in a circular motion, and the blood cleared off. A small metal-looking object rested between his bones.

"That's the bullet, isn't it? Do you have anything to get it out?!" demanded Sealand.

"Nē, it's too deep!" I panicked back. "We have to get it out with pliers or something!" (Nē means no)

PHUT! The bullet shot out of his body in an instant. I turned around, and Katara was holding a stance that looked a lot like Tai chi.

"Th-thank you," said the soldier.

"D-did you just do that?" asked Sokka.

Katara nodded shakily. "W-was that a bad thing?"

"No, that's actually better," Sealand said. "But now we have to stop the bleeding and keep him warm!"

"Warm…" Aang mused. "I have an idea! Wait here, I'm gonna get Momo!"

He picked up his staff, and ran back into the forest quicker than it took for us to blink. "Wh-who's Momo?" I asked nervously.

"He's Aang's winged lemur, but that's not important," Katara said offhandedly. She assumed another stance, and moved her arms in a circular motion. The man's blood flowed back into his body. With a snap of the wrist, the blood covering the wound froze.

"Ack!" the soldier flinched in surprise.

WHOOSH! "Hey, guys! I'm back!" Aang appeared, with a furry lemur-like animal in his arms. "This is Momo, he's our winged lemur!"

"Rrrr," Momo made a rattling/purring noise.

Aang dropped him on the soldier's head. "Now, stay," he said firmly. Kind of like that pet sugar glider I wanted…

"Should we just leave him here?" asked Sealand. "I mean, it's closed, and they probably can treat something like this by now. You can, right?" he added to the soldier.

Katara gave him a sharp look. "Of course not!" Katara put her hands to her hips and glared at him.

"Of course we should!" exclaimed Sokka. "He's Fire Nation! Why should we do anything more to help him?!"

"I… even if he's a Fire Nation soldier, he still deserves it," said Aang quietly.

"I don't really care about which country he's from, but I think we've done all we really can here," said Sealand.

"H-hey," said the man. "I'm still alive here…"

"A-are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah… Listen, kid, you saved my life, so I'll let you off the hook this time, but next time we meet…" he trailed off.

"You are a soldier of an enemy country, so it's unavoidable…" I said.

Sealand nodded solemnly. "It's just like the football games that jerk-Arthur told me about… He said that during the War, on Christmas, both sides stopped fighting to play a game of football… but as soon as the holidays were over…"

"They started fighting and killing again…" I finished. "The people who they had a friendly game with became their enemies the next day."

"Um… I don't mean to spoil the moment, but which war are you talking about? This one's been going on for a hundred years, but you just said that it was a past war. And what's Christmas?" asked the soldier.

Sealand and I exchanged nervous glances. "**D-do you think that we should tell him**?" I asked Sealand in Latvian.

He shook his head. "Just so you know," he said to the soldier, "judging by your injuries, you can't do anything strenuous again. That includes fighting and hard labor."

The soldier just sat there in disbelief. "Y-you're saying th-that I can't get on the battlefield anymore? I don't… have to fight?"

"JĀ," I said.

He sunk, and began to cry.

"What's wrong?" asked Aang.

"It-it's not that I like fighting," he explained through a veil of tears, "b-but m-my family b-back h-home i-in An-huo [1] n-need my paycheck. Th-the others," he made a jerky gesture to his comrades- fellow soldiers, I corrected myself, "they were drafted. In the Fire Nation, w-we ran short of troops, even with all the- the-"

"Propaganda?" I added dryly. Back in the… under Mr. Russia's rule, there were posters all over the place…

Sokka looked incredulous. "So that's why we've been fighting you this whole time?! Because you were stupid enough to believe that- that-"

"They're the good guys?" Sealand suggested. "Hold on a second, I've never had this done to me, but they say it doesn't hurt," he put his hand on the soldier's neck and did something that I could not see. The soldier collapsed.

"What in the name of Old ManVäinämöinen was that?!" Sokka shouted.

"Pressure points. Hey, it's supposed to hurt less than if I punched him in the stomach," Sealand said too-cheerfully.

"Right… so, what was that about them being the good guys?" asked Sokka dryly. "Do they even know what they're doing? They kill people, loot their homes, and ki-kid-…" he trailed off.

"I-I'm sorry," I said, trembling. I had trespassed on his past, and it was- what did they say in English? None of my business.

"That's okay," he said, and leaned closer. "But don't ever mention it again in front of Katara. You see… our mom…"

I nodded. On that night, my citizens were… just thinking about it made my blood chill. [2]

"Anyway, what's this war that's going on about, anyway?" asked Sealand.

Sokka looked at Katara. Katara looked at Aang. Aang, startled by all the attention, smiled and edged away. Sokka pulled him back. "Come on Aang, you're the best at this,"

"Yeah, but he's been frozen in an iceberg for the past hundred years," Katara countered.

Sealand and I exchanged glances. Did we miss something?

"Okay then, I'll start," Sokka said. "You see, this all started a hundred years ago…"

One long history lesson later…

"Wow… they have building here… that don't melt!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] An-Huo- An means peace, Huo means fire, peaceful fire. I just made it up.

[2] That night, kidnapping- I read in the textbook about the "Night of Red Terror", where people in Soviet states were taken from their homes to work, or be taken prisoner or something. I can't find it online, but I think it was in the textbook, and I heard someone I know telling me about this. It's the only thing I'm not sure about.

King Bumi awesomeness up next!

What was that knife that Iggy had? What about that candle? And where are the others?** Väinämöinen is a Finnish diety. **


	4. Chapter 4

You might have read my other active fic, _Arthur Kirkland, United Kingdom, Pirate_. I'm planning on alternating updates between this one and that one.

For clarification, when referring to a nation's land, I say 'place', but when referring to their actual house, I say house.

I am still accepting suggestions for every Avatar episode, except for a few that are A) set in stone by my own ideas, and B) before King of Omashu. I can't actually change the plot flow, so Zuko has to betray them (sorry), but if you have any ideas, don't hesitate do send them. Preferably by review.

I'll be copying some dialogue from Avatar. I don't own it, and I don't own Hetalia either.

Chapter 4 (Sealand POV)

"Wow… they have buildings here… that don't melt!" Sokka said in awe. And honestly, I was impressed. I may be a (micro)nation, but I was only about sixty years old, younger than the invention of the car. I have seen China's place, but according to everyone, it wasn't the same after he turned Communist [1]. But this was way before there was any Western influence; maybe there was no 'West' here.

"They're made out of rock, Sokka," Aang explained. "Rocks don't melt."

"They do actually," I said without thinking. "It varies for the kind of rock but at a high enough temperature at a certain pressure-"

"What _are_ you talking about?" asked Katara.

"Nothing," I said quickly. Telling them about stuff in our world would just make everything worse. The gun had proved that. "I just have a bloody mental older brother, who drilled this sort of thing into my head when I was little."

That last part was a lie; of course, I never really had a childhood. When I first gained consciousness, I looked exactly like I was now. But jerk-England really did cram all this stuff into me whenever he had the chance. I heard from America and Canada that he did the same thing when they were growing up [2].

"Really? I always had to drag Sokka out of every iceberg he crashed into," Katara replied.

"Th-that wasn't my fault!" Sokka said.

"It was the iceberg's fault, then?" Katara replied sarcastically.

"No, it was just that…" Sokka was at a loss for words. "So what's your brother like?"

"P-Peter's brother is much older than he is," Latvia stuttered.

"And he's a real jerk," I said.

Latvia shuddered. "You're one of the few people who can say that… he scares me…"

"What about _his_ older brothers? How about Alfred? And everyone who hates him, like Yao and-"

"Okay, okay, we get the idea," Sokka said. "Your brother's a jerk, everyone's either related to him, afraid of him or hates him."

"Not exactly," I said. "There's Kiku, who is kind of his friend."

"Kind of?" Katara asked with a raised eyebrow.

Latvia shuddered even more. "C-can we not talk about this?"

"Bad memories?" I asked.

"Y-yeah…" Latvia said faintly. The Second World War was when he was annexed by Russia, and when England and Japan were technically at war. Best not to remind him of that.

"What h-"

Katara smacked him. "Sokka, if he doesn't want to talk about it, don't mention it!"

"Fine…"

We started walking again.

"So, what's in Omashu?" I asked.

"Tons of things!" Aang said. "They have this huge mail carrying system where-" he cut himself off. "It's kind of hard to describe. You'll see it when we get there."

"Hold on," said Katara. "It might be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar."

"You need a disguise," Sokka caught on.

"Why?" I asked. "This is Earth Kingdom territory, right? So why do we-"

"Just in case," Katara replied primly.

I looked at Aang. "So, do you have a plan?" I asked.

He shook his head, and then brightened up. "I got it! Wait here," he said, and dashed into the forest.

"Does anyone have any idea how he does that?" Sokka asked.

"Sokka, he's an airbender."

"Oh, yeah, like that explains it," he said sarcastically. He turned to us. "Most people aren't benders here. I'm not a bender, either,"

"Really?" I asked. "In a way, that's sort of a good thing. In out dimension, we have wizards, who are sort of like benders. Jerk-Arthur has to deal with them a lot, and he says that most of them can't even operate a toaster oven."

"Uh… what's a toaster oven?"

Before I could answer, Latvia gave me a frantic "**No**!" in Latvian.

He didn't have to do that after all. Aang was back, and he brought a… a… flying… thingy. "This is Appa, he's the last member of our team!" Aang said.

"**A… a g-giant**…" Latvia muttered in fear, speaking Latvian out of shock.

"He's a Sky Bison! Say hi, Appa!"

Appa roared, making Latvia shudder.

"Calm down, he's all right," Aang said unconcernedly. "Do you mind, Appa?" he asked.

Appa replied with another roar almost indistinguishable to the naked ear. "Okay Appa, this may hurt a bit…"

He pulled out a chunk of Appa's fur. It seemed to come out rather easily, judging by Apps's reaction.

"Ugh, this is so itchy," Aang complained after arranging it into a moustache and hair.

"You know, you look just like our grandpa," Sokka said.

"Well, Aang is 112 years old, after all," Katara replied. Yeah, and Latvia is actually older than all the rest of us combined.

"Well," Aang said in a hoarse croak, "Let's get moving, young whippersnappers," he said as he limped towards the city with his staff as a cane. "The big city awaits!"

Sokka and Katara looked at each other quickly. "He's good at this," said Sokka.

"He was raised by monks, after all," Katara said.

We walked towards the city. "You guys are going to love Omashu," Aand said in his normal voice. "The people here are the friendliest in the world! I used to come here to visit my friend Bumi all the time!"

"Why aren't there any gates?" I wondered out loud.

"Rotten cabbages?!" a male voice cried. Three guards in uniform were standing at the entrance. "You expect to sell this muck here?!"

"Y-yeah…" a frail-looking man said nervously. He had a stall next to him filled with cabbages, and none of them looked bad in the least.

The guard said nothing, but grabbed a cabbage, smashed it into pieces, and stomped his foot. I felt a sudden change in my surroundings… A rock sprouted out of nowhere below the cart, and shot the stall and all of the cabbages upwards. "No! My cabbages!" the man cried.

"Wh-why would he waste food like that?" Latvia asked.

"J-just keep smiling," Aang said, not even believing his own words.

"Friendliest people in the world…" I said sarcastically. "**Aren't the Russians famed for their hospitality**?" I asked Latvia in Latvian.

"**Y-yes**," he replied.

Sokka sighed. "Seriously, why do you two keep on doing that?!"

"Doing what?" we said in unison.

"Speaking- I don't know, some kind of other language! It really-"

"Shh," Aang whispered. "Don't worry, I know a way to get in,"

He limped straight forward.

Not taking chances, the guard in front stepped forward- I felt a small lurch in my stomach- and a rock sprouted up, hovering above Aang. "State your business!" he shouted.

Instead of faltering, Aang rushed straight forward and said, "My business is my business, young man, and none of yours!"

The four of us exchanged glances. He was taking this the whole way. "I've got a mind to slam you over my knee and paddle your backside!" he continued.

"All right, settle down old-timer," the guard said awkwardly. "Just tell me who you are."

"The name's Bonzu. Pippinpaddle Lobistcobolist. The Third!" Aang added for good measure. "And these are my grandkids!"

Katara strode confidently forward. "Hi! June Pippinpaddle Lobistcobolist. Nice to meet you."

The guard gave her an appraising look. Seeing that she might not be enough, I came forward. "I'm Robin! Pippinpaddle Lobstercobblerist," I stuttered.

"T-Toris… Pippinpaddle Lobstercobblerist," Latvia followed suit.

"Ivan! Ivan Pippinpaddle Lobstercobolist!" Sokka announced. Latvia shuddered slightly.

The guard looked at each of us in turn. "Why do you two have a different last name than him?" he asked.

Oh no… This could be bad… I subtly reached for my gun.

"W-we're his daughter's kids," Latvia covered. Phew! Safe!

The guard turned to Katara. "You look like a responsible young lady. Make sure your grandfather here doesn't get into any trouble." He turned to me. "Don't let your little brother out of your sight, got it?" Little brother? Oh yeah, Latvia. "You're a real runt. Eat some meat! Grow a foot or two!" he ordered Latvia, who nodded shakily.

"Enjoy Omashu," he said, and let us pass. We walked only a few steps when-

"Wait a minute," he said. We froze. He grabbed Sokka. "You're a strapping young lad. Show some respect for the elderly!" he yelled. "Carry your grandfather's bag,"

Sokka gave out a sigh of relief.

"Good idea!" croaked Aang, and he tossed Sokka his bag. Sokka wasn't pleased with this arrangement

"Stand back," the guard said, and the walls slid apart like an automatic door in a supermarket, allowing us a good view of the city.

Omahu was incredible. Cherry blossom petals were on every rooftop, and there were these roads on arches that… wait a minute, those aren't roads!

"This is the Omashu delivery system," Aang explained as if he read my mind. "Miles and miles of tubes and chutes."

"Earthbending brings the packages up," I felt another lurch in my stomach, and a group of men to the side somehow lifted the packages through this chute without touching it, "And gravity does the rest."

"The thing that the guard did at the gates, was that Earthbending?" I asked.

"Yeah, any kind of bending that involves earth or rocks is Earthbending," Aang replied.

I thought that it was best not to talk about the feeling I had every time someone Earthbent. "That is impressive…" I said, marveling at the architecture.

"So, they get their mail on time," Sokka said. "So what?"

"That may be true," Aang said with a glint in his eyes, "But you'd never guess what my friend Bumi came up with…"

X

Creak… the cart teetered on the brink, our combined weight barely holding it. All five of us- six counting Momo- were in sitting in one. "The world's greatest super slide!" Aang announced.

"A-are you sure this is safe?" asked Latvia.

"Don't worry! I used to do it all the time with Bumi!"

"I kinda agree with Ravis," Katara said. "There are five of- aaaaaahhh!"

Wow, this gave me more adrenaline than- than-

"AAAAAHHH!" the others screamed.

"Come off it, Ravis! You were pushed out a window once! You'll be fine!" I shouted against the wind.

"Look out! Spear shipment behind us!" cried Sokka. He ducked.

"AAHHH!" Latvia screamed louder. I shoved him down.

"I'm on it!" Aang shouted. He rocked the cart left… right… left…

"**AAAAAHHH**!" the four of us screamed in unison. Why were we flying?! Why did Aang jump us off the-

We slid down a tiled roof, bounced in front of a group of men, crashed into another mail lane and-

"Safe! Nice landing, Aang!" I shouted. He got us back on the track!

"Aang! Are you sure this is safe?!" Katara yelled.

"USE MY AIRBENDING?!" Aang shouted deaf to their screams of terror. "That's make us go even faster!"

There was a _WHOOSH_, and we accelerated more… and more… and more…

Another lurch! The Earthbender in front of us lifted a package… It was right in our path!

"_**AAAHHHH**_!" we all screamed that time.

Lurch… he pushed it back! "YAAAYY-"

Another lurch… FHUM! He lifted another one! "_**YAAAAAA**_!"

WHAM! We collided! We lost the cart! We were in the air, free falling! Latvia and I would be all right, but-

Whoosh! Wind gently spiraled around Aang, and sucked us back into the cart. With another WHAM, we landed on another tiled roof.

"YAAA! Why are we going through houses?!" Latvia screamed.

"Sorry!" Aang yelled though every house we passed. "Coming through!"

Back in the air, crash-landing in three… two… one…

_**BOOM**_! "My cabbages!" the man we saw at the gates cried. "You're gonna pay for this!"

Clop. Clop. Clop. A pair of guards came over to us, and they did not look happy. "T-Two cabbages please…" Aang said feebly.

X

The guards marched us up to the top of the hill the city rested upon. This time, I couldn't help but notice that there was a trail of slowly melting ice on some of the mail slides. "K-"

"Shut up!" the guard holding us shouted. "We're taking you to the king!"

All five of us exchanges glances. This couldn't mean anything good…

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Communist China- during the Cultural Revolution in China, old culture was destroyed in favor of the West.

[2] England drilling knowledge into Canada and America- in one strip, it showed England giving Chibi!America a encyclopedia as a gift for him.

What was that ice? When will King Bumi appear? Why can't I think of another question?

I'm sorry that Bumi isn't here, he'll be in the next chapter. I swear!


	5. Chapter 5

I'm watching Avatar as I go along with this, but I'll have some original scenes. Avatar is mainly from Aang's point of view, so there's room for other characters in unexplained scenes. Plus, I have to adapt some of the more visual gags to a more reader-friendly environment, so it makes sense.

Fine, it is really unoriginal. But it'll get better with more characters. And, after this chapter, I won't be copying text. Unless it's a really good line.

Note- Belarus did actually throw Latvia out the window in chapter 25 of AK, UK, P, my other active fic. But that's not actually canon, because I'm not finished with it yet, and there might be something that contradicts a statement I make in either fic.

Chapter 5 (Latvia POV)

Oh, man, this was really scary! That mail delivery system felt just like the time Belarus threw me out the window, and now the guards caught us! Despite the relatively high temperatures here compared to the winter at my place, I felt a chill wind.

Sealand seems to notice something, too. "K-"

"Shut up!" the guard shouted "We're taking you to the king!"

We looked at each other. A king? I haven't had one in a while…

The soldiers marched us along a long staircase up, to the top of the hill. A blank stone wall stood before us. "Stand back," the one at the head said, and Earthbent an opening just big enough for us to pass through. In the dim light, staircase spiraled downwards. "Go in," he shoved us, and closed the entryway behind him. "The throne room's at the bottom of these stairs. Get moving!"

Sokka grumbled something unintelligible, luckily, the guard didn't hear. I guess that he'd never been pushed around like this his whole life. I had…

"Latvija," Sealand murmured, using my real name in my language. I turned my head a few centimeters, and he said, "Man vajag runat ar jums velak," he said in inexpert Latvian. (I need to talk to you later. It's inexpert because I took out all the tone marks).

"Jā," I replied in a whisper. Sokka made sure we had a glimpse of his annoyance, but I murmured him an apology.

At last, we came to a large room, painted green and illuminated with only lanterns. The man sitting on a throne, the king, looked like he was at least a hundred years old, dressed in rich green robes, and had an angry look on his face. My nerves overtook me and I began shaking uncontrollably, but I could see Katara and Sokka lowering their heads, Aang trying to avoid his gaze, and Sealand looking at the ground, frustrated.

The guards made us kneel down, but I continued shaking. "Your Majesty," the one in front began, "These juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretences and malicious destruction of cabbages."

"Off with their heads!" screamed the Cabbage Merchant we saw earlier. "One head for each head of cabbage!"

I could understand his sentiment, so I turned to him and muttered, "Atvainojiet." (Latvian for sorry). He gave me an irritated look.

"Silence!" shouted the guard in reply. "Only the king can pass judgement." He lifted his head towards the king. "What is your judgement, sire?"

The king leaned forward and analyzed us. As his gaze passed over each of us, Sokka blabbered a little, Katara smiled and tried to act innocent, Sealand looked guilty, and I shook more than before. Oh no, what if he's like Russia? What will he do to us? Is there a Siberia in this dimension? After what seemed like Swedish Livonia all over again, he turned to Aang, who was looking to the side. When he saw that the king was looking at him, he began to whistle.

"Throw them…" the king began. What was it? Siberia? Auschwitz? "A feast."

The soldiers and cabbage merchant gasped. "Huh?" asked Aang.

Why would he…? We're not in a position to argue. I told myself. He's the king, and… why was he tap-dancing?

X

The table was set with a good amount of food for six people. Momo was nibbling on something that looked like dumplings. He was easily the happiest person here. Katara, Aang, and Sokka huddled together, while I tried to act like an older brother to Sealand by staying close to him. Okay, I admit it; I was the most scared person here!

The king loomed directly behind Aang. After a few awkward seconds, he made a chuckling noise. "The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts," he put an arm around Aang, holding a drumstick. "So I hope you like your chicken with no skin."

"Thanks," Aang said quickly. "But I don't eat meat."

"**You don't**?" I asked, but he just gave me a blank look.

"What did you say?" he asked confusedly.

"How about you?" the king asked Sokka, not noticing Aang and I. "I bet you like meat." He crammed the leg up Sokka's mouth.

"Mmph!" he grunted nasally. The king didn't pay him any attention, and went to his end of the table.

"Is it just me," said Katara quietly, "or is this guy's crown a little crooked?"

"Nē, tas nav tikai tu, viņš ir gandrīz tikpat traki kā Krievijā!" I babbled rapidly in Latvian. (It's not just you; this guy is crazier than Russia!)

All three of them turned to face me. "Seriously, stop saying stuff that we can't understand!" said Sokka exasperatedly.

"Atvainojiet," I apologized, and widened my eyes. I couldn't speak English! "Sorry," I made an effort to put my words into English.

"So tell me," the king began. "Where are you people from?"

"The South Pole," Katara and Sokka said in unison.

"Kangaroo Island," Aang lied.

"Rīga," I said. (Riga is the Capital of Latvia)

"Essex," said Sealand. [1]

"Hmm…" the king said. "Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping!"

… That was a horrible joke. After questioning his sanity for five seconds, Sokka burst out laughing. "What? I thought it was funny," he defended himself.

"Tas nav," I said, but no one but Sealand could understand me.

"He said, 'It's not'," Sealand whispered to Sokka.

"Oh."

The king shot me a suspicious look. "Where did you say you were from, again?"

"Rīga," I answered, hoping that it wouldn't get me into trouble. He seemed almost as crazy as Russia…

"Never heard of it. Where is it on the map? Maybe- Fire Nation?!" he accused.

"N-nē!" I couldn't control myself. I couldn't speak English without concentrating because of him, and I couldn't focus!

"W-we're not from around here," Sealand covered. "We're from… an uncharted island in the middle of nowhere, and we were sent here by a sudden typhoon. And it's nowhere near the Fire Nation!"

"Hmm… Your friend here doesn't speak English?" asked the king.

"No," I said. "I am tired, I… had sudden head trauma?"

Sealand gave me a thumbs-up. "That was English this time!" he mouthed.

"Well then…" the king said sinisterly. Oh no, not again… "I guess you should get some rest…"

FWOOSH! He flung a knife at Aang. Sh-

Whoosh. Aang moved his hand rapidly and caught the knife using Airbending. Wait…

"Tas ir vistas kājas!" I shouted, distracted enough to resort to Latvian.

"That's a chicken leg!" Sokka shouted.

"I… I said that…" I said with difficulty.

"Well, speak English next time!" burst out Sokka.

"An Airbender, are you?" asked the king. Oh no, he found out! "And not only an Airbender, but the Avatar, Mr. Pippinpaddle Lobstercobbleist!"

Aang took it well, albeit nervously. "Okay, you caught me. I'm the Avatar, doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe." He lifted the tablecloth. "No Firebenders here. Love each other, respect all life…" he made us get up so that we could have a group hug. He edged backwards, so that we were moving towards the door. "And don't run with those spears!" he said as we moved towards the soldiers guarding the door. This is working? This is working!

"Yeah right," the soldiers said. "You think we're going to let you go after all that?" He pushed us forward.

"You can't keep us here," Katara demanded. "Let us leave!"

The king looked at us in a weird way… were we going to be executed!? "Lettuce leaf?" asked the king, and chomped on a leaf.

"We're in serious trouble," Sokka said. "This guy, is nuts!"

"**Oh no oh no oh no**…" I said in Latvian. Luckily, Sokka wasn't as keen on correcting me. But… was it getting colder in here? "Peter, **please tell me you still have the gun**!"

"S-sorry," he said. "I can't reach it."

"Tomorrow," the king said dramatically. "The Avatar shall face three trials that will test you to the utmost of your ability but for now, the guards will show you to your chambers."

The guard next to him asked, "My Liege, do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?"

"The newly refurbished chamber." The king said it like it was obvious.

"Wait, which chamber are we talking about?" the guards said, confused.

"The one that used to be the bad chamber; until the recent refurbishment, that is. Of course, we've been calling it the new chamber, which we really shouldn't, given the…" he paused. "Take them to the refurbished chamber that used to be the bad one!" the king ordered.

The guard led us down another passageway, which was impossible to navigate without Earthbending. Every wall had to be opened, and it we were almost crushed by falling rocks five times. At last, we came to a room furnished with all the essentials. The guard shoved us in, and closed the hole.

"This is a prison cell?" asked Katara. I thought the same thing, it had beds, carpets, and it was warm… warmer than the open ice sheets of Siberia, at least.

"Don't complain; it's nice in here!" Sealand said, and began jumping on the bed.

"Well, he did say that it was newly refurbished," Aang said.

"Nice or not, that doesn't change the fact that we're prisoners here!" Sokka said.

"Y-Yeah…" I agreed. "B-but he could have thrown us into an actual cell… or into a place with no light… no food… or worse-"

"Hey, look!" called Aang. "It's a vegetable garden with gardening implements!"

"YAAAAH!" I screamed. This was a Kolhoz! [2]

"**Latvia, this is a kingdom, it's nowhere near Communist**," Sealand said. Oh yeah… Phew.

Sokka sighed, and slapped his head. "When will you stop speaking that language?! It's really annoying when we can't understand a word you're saying!"

Sealand and I exchanged glances. "It's Ravis's native language," he covered. "And yes, he really is from Riga, and I'm from Essex."

"Okay then, but why do you keep on speaking that?"

"I… couldn't speak English in front of the king… he reminded me of Mister Ivan…" I said, the horrible memories flooding back.

"Who's this 'Mister Ivan'?" asked Katara.

"M-my ex-boss… he's the person I'm afraid of most…"

"Wait a minute, aren't you fifteen?" asked Sokka. "Since when did you start working?"

"When I was fourteen…" I lied. "It was horrible…"

Katara put her hand on my shoulder sympathetically.

"I'm worried about the trials that the king mentioned…" Aang said.

"Don't worry," Katara said, "If we have anything to say about it, you won't have to go. There must be some way out of here."

"Look!" Aang pointed to some holes in the wall. "The air vents!"

I looked at the tiny holes.

"If you think we're going to fit through that, then you're crazier than that king," Sokka said.

"We can't," Aang said, "But Momo can!" he rushed the bed where Momo was eating an apple. "Momo! I need you to find Appa so that he can bust us out of here!"

He pushed him into a hole, but he was too big. "Aw, never mind."

"Hey! Peter, do you still have your gun?" asked Sokka.

"Yeah, but how is that going to help?" he asked.

"We can make the hold wider, and-"

"We're underground, Sokka," Katara inturupted. "Even if Momo could fit into a bigger hole, who knows what other twists and turns there are in that passageway."

"And I don't think that we should use the gun quite just yet," Sealand replied. "You saw what happened to that man."

"Yeah… well, I'm beat from that super slide thingy that you showed us." Sokka said. "Good night."

"Ar labu nakti," I said. Hopefully, Aang could survive… right?

X

"Psst. You awake?"

Ugh… "**Y-yeah**," I replied in Latvian. Just like a normal conversation between nations with no humans around, we spoke both spoke in our native languages. Sealand's was English, mine was Latvian. "**Why did you wake me up**?"

"I wanted to talk to you about this earlier, and I didn't want the others to hear," he whispered. "I haven't been able to figure this out, but every time someone Earthbends, I get this weird feeling in my stomach. Do you have any idea why?"

I shook my head. "**Your brother is the real expert on magic. He should be somewhere**."

"But where could he be?" Sealand looked up. "I hate not being able to see the sky. In my place, there are windows everywhere, it's wet, exposed to the elements… but that's who I am."

Crumblecrumblecrumble… we jolted up, Sealand in a judo stance, I holding the knife England gave me. The door was open, and another group of guards came in. "Wake the other two up, but don't wake the Avatar."

Sealand took this as a cue to scream as loudly as he could.

"Why are you shouting?!" I screamed.

"Wah!? What's going on?!" Sokka jerked awake.

"I was just having the greatest dream…" Katara yawned and moaned.

"Aang! Wake up!" Sokka shook him, but to no avail. He was still sleeping.

"He must have a head of rock to sleep through this," I said.

"Well, not after I do this!" Before any of us could say anything, Sealand picked up a rock and yelled, "I'm going to smash your head in with this rock!"

"Zzz… Marukaite Chikuyuu," Aang turned over and snored.

SPLASH! Katara Bent water onto Aang. Aang snored louder.

"I am going to feed Momo to Appa!" shouted Sokka.

"I just lit Momo's tail on fire!" I shouted.

"I am going to stab you with gardening implements!" yelled Sealand.

"I once killed a man in his sleep using his own moustache and a grape!" screamed Sokka.

"I'm going to shoot you!"

"Man up or I'll beat you with my Peace Prize!"

"PASTAAAAA!"

"TOMATOES… Wait, what is a tomato, anyway?"

"It's a red fruit that looks like a vegetable, but isn't," explained Sealand.

"GET UP, YOU BLOODY YANKEE!" Sealand cried. "BLOODY GIT!"

"GOKU! DINNER'S READY!"

"I HAVE A KNIFE WITH MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS THAT ARE ALL VERY PAINFUL!" I screamed.

"Are they?" asked Sealand.

"J-jā. N-never anger Miss Natalya…"

"She is _insane_," Sealand agreed. "I heard from jerk-Arthur that when she was trying to get Ivan to marry her, he locked the door on her so that she wouldn't get in, but she broke down the doorknob. She's the one person that Ivan is really afraid of, next to Alfred."

"Who's this 'Miss Natalya'?" asked Sokka. "Another one of your ex-bosses?"

"M-mister Ivan's younger sister…"

"And, she wants to marry her brother?" Katara asked. When I nodded, she and Sokka looked at each other, and made disgusted faces.

"Now _that_ is disgusting." Sokka agreed.

"A-hem," the soldier said. Oh, right. THUM. He stomped his foot, and-

"AHH!" the earth rose around Katara, trapping her into a wall of stone.

THUM. THUM. Me and Sokka were stuck, too! "R-run away, P-"

THUM. Nothing happened. THUM. THUM. Like an electrician flipping a switch on and off without power, the soldier kept on stomping, but the floor didn't move.

I turned my head to face Sealand, and he was straining from the effort of… something.

"**I- m-managed- to nullify his** Earthbending- **somehow**," Sealand said. "**I don't know how, but I just…know how to do it**."

"Okay, _now_ this is getting weird," said Sokka. "Do something!"

"What can I do?!"

"Anything!"

Sealand picked up the rug, and-

THUM. The guard stomped his foot again, but this time, bits of wall shot at him.

THUD. Sealand fell to the ground. "Peter!" all three of us yelled.

"Aang, do something!" Sokka shouted.

"Zzz… churros…" Aang muttered.

Sokka turned his head toward us. "You know, if I could move my hands, I'd hit myself."

"Silence!" the soldier shouted. "Although… there's not much point in saying that if the Avatar won't wake up."

"Aang! Wake up!" Katara screamed. "I can't bend without my arms!"

"Aang! Help!" Sokka panicked.

"Aang! We are needing the help!" I called.

"Zzz… O…M…G… Liet your… face is… so… funny…"

I half-expected Lietuva to scream, "Poland you're a jerk and a bad friend!"

"Just… SHUT UP!" the guard shouted, and knocked us over like dominoes.

"Hey!" Sokka said with an attempted dignified response.

"You're going to be sent to the trial rooms the same way you got here!"

"Uh… we can't exactly walk with this on us…" Sokka muttered.

"Not that way!" the guard slapped his head. "THIS way!" he stomped his foot again, and the floor beneath us changed into a slant.

Ssss… WHOOSH! We were slipping! "**YAAA**!" Oh no, this was just like the mail system! Except underground! "**YAAAAA**!"

I felt another chill… Oh no! A pitfall! "_**YAAAA**_!"

X

Click. Click Cli- FOOM! The fire was lit. A middle-aged woman sighed. "Why do we have to do this?" she complained. She lifted the kettle onto the fireplace.

"We can't help it," her husband said obligingly. "The track can be fixed by the Earthbenders, but this…"

"So why do _we_ have to do this?!" she raged.

"It's in our section of the city, so we get responsibility for our mail. Don't worry; we get free delivery service for one package 10~25 kg."

"And where would we get something that heavy?" she sighed again. "Sometimes, I wish we had a Firebender refugee here."

"I kinda agree… who would have thought that the entire East-Delta track froze overnight?"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Essex is a port city in England. Sealand was made to be positioned to protect it from German bombs.

[2] A Kolhoz is not a prison, it's a Communist place where a group of people work on one thing, like farming.

What was that ice? How did Sealand stop the soldier's bending? And what will wake Aang up?


	6. Chapter 6

All right, I will have multiple POVs besides Latvia and Sealand.

Today, I was reading the Wikipedia article for the painting _Guernica_. At one point, I misread something along the lines of '…killed by the people's tormenters' as 'killed by the people's tomatoes'. I know how serious the painting is, just… Hetalia messed up my mind a little.

Chapter 6 (Sokka POV)

"YAAA!" I screamed as the slope became steeper. Why did they drag us into this? Aang, I can understand, but why do they want us?! This whole place was messed up! Not only did they have an insane king, but this too?!

I heard a scream behind me. It was that nervous kid, Ravis! "**YAAA**!"

"Hey! You doing okaaa-" I yelled as loud as I could.

"WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?!" he screamed.

"WE CAN'T TALK OTHERWISEEEEE-"

WHUM! More Earthbending! A wall moved! "Light!" I shouted. "I see LIGHTTTT-"

TWACK! We hit another wall! My… ribs… I turned to look, and Ravis was okay. Lucky guy…

Whum! The wall opened, revealing a small room where several guards, and-

"Sokka! Ravis!" Katara shouted from the other end of the room. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it was the fact that we were _sliding down an eighty-foot drop while attached to a twenty-pound roc_k?!" I screamed like crazy.

"Wh-where's Peter?" Ravis tried to glance around, but the wall of stone behind him prevented his head from moving.

"Oh, sorry, I should have done that earlier," the guard said, and Bent the rocks that encased us into…

"Agh!" I said. "You know, this is a very uncomfortable position to be in."

"W-why do you make us hold our arms up?" Ravis asked.

"Hold on, hold on," the guard made a gesture with his left hand, and handcuffs formed around our wrists. With another flick, the stone wall vanished.

"Much better," I said.

"Sokka!" Katara shouted. "We're prisoners now! I can't bend without my arms!"

"Katara! You _can_ move your arms! Your hands are the things that you can't move!"

"W-we were already prisoners…" Ravis muttered pessimistically.

THUMB! The wall behind us crumbled, and a guard shoved Peter in. Judging by the way he fell, he couldn't move his arms, either. "You-" he let out a string of words that sounded as if they would be really insulting if only I could understand them.

"Wh-where did you learn-" Ravis began, but Peter cut him off.

"Jerk-Arthur," he said as if it explained everything. "He curses. A lot."

"Who's this 'Jerk-Arthur'?" Katara asked.

"Peter's older brother…" Ravis said as if he didn't want to think about him.

"The one who you're afraid of," I said bluntly.

Instead of retorting, he looked at me and said, "Y-you would be afraid if you knew him…"

"Five…four, three, two, one," the guard counted down, and opened another wall.

It was Aang! The king was standing hunchbacked opposite, wearing some kind of purple robe…

"…Your friends here will suffer the consequences!" the king declared.

"Uh, what were you saying?" I asked. "We didn't catch that last bit."

"Katara! Sokka! Peter! Ravis!" Aang shouted. "You're okay... why do you look so angry?"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR US TO TRY AND WAKE YOU UP?!" I screamed. "PETER WAS GOING TO SET MOMO ON FIRE!"

"You what?!" shouted Aang.

"Hey, it wasn't like I was going to go through with it," Peter said defensively. "By the way, how did you wake up?"

"Oh. Momo sneezed," he said casually.

"After all this…" I began. "You woke up, FROM A FREAKING FLYING LEMUR'S SNEEZE?!"

"Uh... yeah?" Aang said shyly.

"A-hem," the king coughed lightly. "As I was saying, if you do not go through with the challenges, your friends will suffer the consequences!"

"Much better," I added. "So, how are you going to subdue us into-?"

"SILENCE!" the guard roared. He rummaged through his pocket and produced four crystal rings. He slipped one onto my left ring finger.

"Oooh… shiny- OW!" The thing got tighter!

"You know, where I'm from, that would be a proposal of marriage," said Peter.

"Not helping!" Katara struggled as another ring was slipped onto her. "Agh!"

"Sokka! Katara!" Aang tried to rush the guard, but he Earthbent a wall into his path.

THWACK! "Ugh…" I couldn't see him, but I'm sure that Aang was rubbing his head.

"Aang!" Ravis called after him, but the guard slipped another ring onto-

CRACK! I turned around, and Peter headbutted the guard while he was distracted. "Take that, you-"

TUM! The guard stomped, and Peter's legs were encased in stone. "Try moving now, k-"

He never got to finish his sentence. Peter swung as him with handcuffs, but he missed. The guard moved into a stance and- nothing happened.

"Ha…" Peter was sweating from the effort of… something.

"You can nullify Earthbending?!" Katara was appalled. "Why didn't you-"

THUM! The guard encased Peter in stone like he did before, leaving his only his head and his left hand exposed.

"You distracted me!" he shouted at Katara.

"Well, you could have told us this earlier!" she retorted.

"Silence!" the guard demanded, and slipped the ring on Peter's finger.

"So, what's all this fuss about- Ouch!" he gave a yelp of pain.

"They shrink!" I said.

The guard tried to put a ring on Ravis's finger, but he was shaking so much that he had to be anchored to the ground with another burst of Earthbending before he could have anything put on him.

"These rings are made of pure jenamite, otherwise known as Creeping Crystal!" the king announced. "As soon as they are attached to a host, it will grow until the victim is totally encased!"

Crikle… "Ah!" I yelped. "It's already creeping!"

Ravis screamed.

"However, I can remove those crystals," the king said, ignoring Ravis. "As soon as the Avatar completes all three tasks, I will remove- would you please stop screaming!?"

"A-atvainojiet," Ravis apologized in that weird language of his.

"Much better. By nightfall, the crystal will encase you totally, suffocating you! Any questions?"

"I have one," Peter said.

"No, no, let Aang get the tasks over with so we can leave!" I whispered, but he wasn't listening.

"Doesn't that crystal defy the law of Matter and Energy conversion?"

"Eh? What's that?"

"It's simple, really. Mass and energy cannot be created-"

"Nē! Jūs nevarat pateikt viņam par tehnoloģiju mūsu pasaulē! Tu redzēji, kas notika ar pistoli!" babbled Ravis in his own language.

"Uh… translation?" Katara asked.

"Don't tell him about technology, basically," Peter said. "And he mentioned the gun."

"Eh?" the king leaned forward attentively. "What's a g-?"

"Nothing!" I covered. "So, what's this first task of yours?"

"Follow me," the king said, and another passageway opened up.

"Please tell me we're walking this time," I prayed.

"Eheheheh," the king laughed. "By the time you get down there, you'd wish you didn't!"

X

"Man…" I groaned. "How…many…steps…are …there left…?"

"Two hundred and fourty-eight," the king said. Oh yeah, easy for him to say. He has a lift powered by gravity and Earthbending.

"Well, that's not that bad," said Katara optimistically.

"Thousand."

"… HOW MANY STEPS IN HERE ARE THERE?!" I ranted.

"Well, you did say that you wanted to walk," the king said. "But, if you want…"

"No thanks." I said. I was sick of all the slides.

"Actually, I was offering to let you on the lift, but oh well."

"I take that back, LET ME ON!"

"Nē!" Ravis warned. "H-he's planning something."

"Honestly, I'm too tired to care," I retorted. "Please let me on?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely…" he Earthbent a walkway to his elevator thingy. I clamored on.

"Gee, that was nice of you," Aang said.

"Eheheheh, thank you!" the king laughed. "Now, full speed ahead!"

He stomped his foot, and the lift fell!

"YAAAA!" I screamed.

"EHEHEHEH! That's not the only good part!" cackled the king. "Three, two, one…"

THUD! Instead of shattering on impact, the slab of rock we stood on slid down a slope, and-

"Hold on tight!" The king made handlebars for both of us to grab onto, but-

"THIS IS ANOTHER SLIDE, ISN'T IT?!" I panicked.

"USE MY EARTHBENDING?! THAT WILL MAKE US GO EVEN FASTER! EHEHEHEH!"

If I had dared to move my hands, I would have slapped myself. "Not again…"

X

After another gut-wrenching ride down, we finally arrived on a ledge inside of a gigantic cavern. A waterfall stood- or fell, or was located- in the center of the cave.

"Sokka!" Katara called. "Why were you two so late?!"

I gaped at her. "H-how did you…?"

"Eheheheh," cackled the king. "That slide was made to produce maximum velocity in a small area."

"In other words, it was longer," Peter whispered.

I retched. Why would anyone make a slide that took longer than walking?

Ravis approached me as I threw up. "I-I hate to say this but-"

"_Don't_ say 'I told you so'," I said irritably.

"Well, it's the truth," said Katara. "It turns out that it wasn't that much of a walk down, only about a hundred more steps."

I slapped myself. "Where's Aang?"

"Over there," Peter pointed. I looked in that direction, but I didn't see anything.

"Sorry, you can't see with the stalactite in the way," he guided me over to where he was standing.

"What's a stalac- Aang!" I shouted as soon as I saw him. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah!" he shouted back. "But I'm more worried about you. Look at your left arm!"

"What about my- ack!" That creepy crystal thingy was up to my elbow! "Ahh!"

"Calm down!" Katara shouted.

"Easy for you to say!" I bit back. "You're not the one-"

"It's stress!" Peter yelled over me. "Stress is what triggers it [1]! Look at Ravis!"

Ravis was clearly terrified. The crystal was up to his shoulder, and he was shaking like a baby polar bear dog. Judging by what he said last night, the king was the one he was really afraid of.

"Let him go!" Aang shouted at the king. "He won't survive as long as you said!"

"You think?" the king asked in his usual senile way. "Well, your friend seems to be solving that problem right now."

WHAM! WHACK! CRASH! "Hang on just a little longer!" Peter shouted as he bashed Ravis's arm against the wall.

"Stop it!" Katara shouted.

"Tas ir labi. Man ir jūtama daudz sliktāks nekā šis," said Ravis quietly.

"He's okay, he's felt worse," translated Peter.

"Stop putting words in his mouth!" Katara yelled.

"I'm not!" Peter defended himself.

"Stop it!" someone yelled. I was surprised to find that it was me. "We don't have time to argue. What is this challenge?" I asked the king.

"Hmm… you have your priorities straight," the king examined me. "Very well then. Avatar, you had better be listening."

Aang nodded. "Of course I'm listening! Now tell me what I have to do!"

The king pointed to the waterfall. "It seems as if I lost my lunchbox key and you have to find it. It's in that waterfall."

"Then you haven't actually _lost_ it, it's just in an inaccessible place," I said without thinking.

"Fine," said Aang in an almost angry way. He rushed forward, and jumped through the stalagmites, probably using his airbending to keep him safe. He jumped into the waterfall, and began to climb the ladder hidden in the water.

Peter shook his head. "That's not going to work."

I spun around on him. "Why are you so pessimistic? Aang's the last airbender, he can-"

"N-n-n -nē!" Ravis panicked. Was it just me, or was it getting colder in here?

"Okay, one last try!" Aang jumped onto the stalactites, and prepared to launch himself down-

"Nē!" Ravis screamed.

The entire waterfall froze.

"H-how did you do that?" Katara asked Ravis.

"You mean it wasn't you?!" I said, startled.

From all the attention he was getting, Ravis's crystal began to grow even more.

Peter stood in front of him. "I think I can explain, but we don't have time now. Look, Aang just finished the first task!"

I looked, and Aang really did finish. He drilled though the ice with a stalagmite and airbending. But that didn't make me any less suspicious…

"Okay, I finished your stupid task! Give me my friends back!" Aang shouted at the king.

"Hmm… Nope, not yet," said the king. "For your second task, you must find my pet Flopsy!"

All five of us stared at him like he was crazy- oh wait, he was. "Find… your pet?" I asked. "Does Aang get any hints?"

"He's in that pen," the king pointed upwards. He stomped his foot, and-

"Whoa-Whoa-Whoa!" I screamed. We were moving up! "Please tell me this isn't another slide…"

"Eheheheh! It's not," laughed the king. "Now full speed ahead!"

"_**YAAAAAA**_!" All five of us screamed at the lift hurtled upwards…

Not again…

X

"I found your pet!" Aang called as he gestured to a giant goat-gorilla.

"Well, that was easy…" I said. "NOW GET US OUT OF THIS STUFF!"

"Ich kann mich nicht bewegen," muttered Ravis.

"He says he can't move," Peter translated.

"Well, NEITHER CAN I!" I raged.

X

"As your final test, you will fight in a duel!" the king announced. Two burly men flanked his sides, each with a weapon and hardly any clothes.

Aang stepped back nervously. "So… I can choose my opponent?" he asked.

If I could move my arm, I would have slapped myself. "Of course, Aang. That's the whole point of having two men."

"In that case…" Aang gave both challengers a long, hard look, "King! I choose you!"

The king smiled. "Wrong choice," he said as he-

"Ugh!" If I could see, I would say that Katara closed her eyes. "If you're going to strip, do it in private!"

"Katara, he has something on underneath," I said. "It's okay for a guy to go around shirtless, even if it's not recommended in the South Pole."

"You thought I was a frail old man, eh?" said the king. Wow, he was ripped!

"Uh… yeah, kind of," admitted Aang.

"Well, you were wrong!" the king stomped, and Aang was flung into the arena. "I am the most powerful Earthbender you will ever meet!"

He jumped off the balcony after him.

"Um, can I fight the guy with the axe instead?" Aang asked.

The king shook his head. "You have made a decision, and you must go through with it. That is the rule in my kingdom."

"That's a stupid rule," said Peter fervently.

"Here, you might need this," the king tossed Aang's staff, and Aang caught it. "Now take this!"

He stomped, and- this was getting pretty predictable. He earthbends rocks to shoot at Aang, Aang dodges, that's pretty much what's happening.

I looked over at Ravis, and he looked more terrified than ever. "Don't worry; Aang will get through thi-"

"Sokka, look! Aang just won!" Katara gasped.

"Why do I always miss everything…?" I moaned.

"Quit whining, we can finally get out of this stuff!" said Peter cheerfully.

I gave him a serious look. "But you'd better tell us what the deal was with Ravis!"

If he could move his head, he would have nodded. "Okay."

"Before I can set your friends free, however," the king announced, "You must answer one question."

Peter yelled out something that I couldn't understand at all. More cursing, I guess…

"What," the king continued over Peter, "is my name?"

I looked at Aang, and he didn't have a clue, either.

"I will be waiting in that chamber over there," said the king, and he walked off.

"Bloody git!" Peter finished his slew of cursing.

"I-I agree…" Ravis muttered.

"Okay, so-"

"I got it!" Aang shouted, as if a lightbulb was lit over his head. Wait, what's a lightbulb?

He ran out the room.

"Aang, wait up!" Katara hopped after him. I hopped after her, while Peter, who had both his knees free, ran, and kicked the crystal containing Ravis down the hall.

"So, wait, the king is your old friend Bumi?" Katara said as we arrived in the chamber.

"Uh-huh!" Aang said happily.

"G-Get us out of here!" Ravis panicked.

"Oh, sorry," King Bumi said, and used his Bending to blow up the jenamite. He picked up some of the debris. "Jenamite is made of pure rock candy," he said, and licked a piece.

"So, Bumi?" asked Aang.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, could you come on one last ride with me? I don't think my friends are up to another round." He smiled at me.

I nodded. "I am _not_ going on that thing again."

"Suit yourself," said Bumi, and he Bent another tunnel. "This is the exit out of here. Take it!"

"You don't need to tell me twice," I muttered.

"Hey, at least he was nice enough to give us a clear way out of here," said Katara.

"There's just one thing that's bugging me," I said aloud. "How did you freeze the waterfall?"

"Wh-why do you think it was me?" he replied shakily.

"Simple," Katara began. "You were terrified during the first challenge, right?"

He nodded nervously. She continued. "Bending is caused by strong emotions, and that's probably what triggered it."

"Yeah, but from what you've told us, there's no Bending in your world, right?" I added.

Peter looked upwards. "Maybe… Jerk-Arthur used to say that magic exists in many forms, and everyone has some of it."

"Aha!" I shouted, so suddenly that everyone else stopped in their tracks. "I was right!"

"Right about what?" asked Katara.

"From what you're saying, Bending is a form of magic?" I asked Peter.

He nodded. "That's what Jerk-Arthur always told me."

"So it _is_ magic water!" I proclaimed triumphantly.

Ravis and Peter looked confused, but Katara sighed. "You said that weeks ago, back on the South Pole, right? [2]"

"Uh-huh!" I nodded.

"Sokka, sometimes I wonder what's going on with you."

"I-I wonder," Ravis began. "W-where are the others?"

X

"AAAH! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to burn down your vig!"

"Shut up, you Firebender Commie!"

"W-where did zat come from?!"

"I don't know, but it sounded cool! Hey, we're a mob of angry villagers, it's not my fault!"

X

"Ugh… my craving for maple syrup is gone… why?"

"Hey, what's with the new kid?"

"Ha! That n00b's been at the fermented wheat extract for only ten minutes!"

"Well, the kid's better be ready for the raids tomorrow."

X

"… So, my dam calculations are done. Now, for Karma calculations… to seek forgiveness of the forest spirits, they would have to plant _x_ amount of trees…"

"Hey! So you've been working with that Fire Nation occupied-village, right! Well, d-"

BZZZT! "I am so glad I installed that electric net."

X

"Pass me ze monkey wrench!"

"You could at least say please!"

"Vell, I am ze von who eeiz making zis!"

"Which one's the monkey wrench!?"

"Zat von!"

X

"It's so cold here… At least I'm used to snow…"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Stress affecting jenamite- if you watch the episode, Sokka has more crystal on him that Katara and he'd much more stressed.

[2] Magic, South Pole- in the first episode, Sokka refers to Waterbending as 'magic water'

Where are the others? When will they stop being chased? And when will I stop taking so long for one episode?


	7. Chapter 7

I had an Avatar dream the other day. I dreamt that I was the Avatar (I may or may not have been Aang), and I was chasing someone. I tried to Earthbend rocks to fire at him/her, but the rocks wouldn't move. I picked up rocks at I ran, but when I threw them, they always fell short. Plus, I can't remember Waterbending or Airbending at all. I could only Firebend when I was either angry or when I didn't want to, so when I tried to Bend a spark, it didn't come.

Did anyone notice that Latvia's shirt is the same color as his flag? It might be a different shade, but they're very similar.

I probably can't update for at least a week. Here's an extra long chapter! (Almost 5,000 words).

Chapter 7 (Sealand POV)

Right before we left, we had to get some supplies first. The king was generous enough to give us some money before going on the super-slide, but I knew he was stretching his purse, with the war and all. Jerk-England lost a lot of his…colonies after the Second World War.

"So… why are there different languages in your world?" asked Sokka. "Everyone speaks the same language around here, and we get along fine."

"There are many barriers between countries, and they prevent interaction," I said automatically. "Additionally, many languages are brought to different cultures and integrate with them, effectively forming a new one-"

Sokka slapped his head. "Forget I even asked."

"Hold it," interrupted Katara. "You two need a change of clothes. Look at yourselves!"

I looked at Latvia, and down at my own sailor shirt. "They're in perfect condition," I said. "Why-"

Latvia tugged at my arm. "R-remember, w-we are in another world," he said. "Our clothes are out of place."

"Yeah, seriously?" Sokka added. "No one here ever wears that… reddish beet-like color, and… how did you get that shirt white?"

"The white color is caused by-"

"You know what? That's really not important," said Sokka irritably. "But as soon as we finish up here, we're looking for clothes."

X

"How… how much did you say we have?" Sokka gasped for breath.

"Only enough for one set of clothes," Katara replied. "Maybe we would have enough, **if you didn't have to buy a dozen mangoes**."

"Come on!" Sokka moaned. "I was hungry!"

"And because of **you**, only one of them can get clothes!"

Latvia shuddered some more. "I-I c-can g-go without-"

Katara put her hand on his shoulder. "We'll work something out, I promise."

"We can, uh…" Sokka thought. "Make clothes out of mango skin!"

"How do you eat that many…?" I asked. "Why aren't your hands sticky by no…?" Sticky? That's it! "Sokka, how many outfits do you have?"

"Three. Why?"

Latvia caught on. "If we buy one more, than we would have four pairs."

Sokka hit himself again. "Right. That's called basic math. We learned that when we were like, five."

"I get it!" Katara exclaimed. "If you have four outfits and three people, then each of you has something to wear while you wash the remaining one!"

Sokka put his hand to his chin in a thinking position. "True… but who'd be wearing what?"

Katara examined both of us thoroughly. "Let's see… Well, Ravis looks slightly taller than you… even if you do look like a nine-year old."

"I-I am fifteen…"

"So, it looks like you're getting Sokka's clothing."

Sokka sighed, and withdrew a set of identical clothing from his bag. Latvia nodded shyly, and said, "Es būs rūpēties par jūsu apģērbu," before running behind the shop's changing room.

"Wh-"

"I will take good care of your clothes," I translated before Sokka could finish his question. "Don't worry, that bloke's actually really good with washing. He used to-"

I broke off. Latvia and I had avoided the tough subject of his life under the Soviet Union, and if they would have to know, Latvia would have to tell them, not me.

"He used to work under a man called Ivan, right?" Katara remembered.

I nodded. "You can tell how bad it was for him, right? If anyone's going to tell you about it, it has to be him. Or…"

"Are you telling us now?" asked Sokka.

"There were other people working for Ivan," I said. "A lot of other people… according to them, it was horrible…"

"H-how bad can working for someone be?" Sokka persuaded himself. "I mean, what-"

"M-mister Ivan…" Latvia emerged from behind the curtain wearing Sokka's clothing. "H- Whenever h-he saw me, h-he would put his hand on my head… m-my c-cervical vertebrae w-was crushed…"

"So… is that why you're so short?" asked Sokka bluntly. "Wait… what is this 'cervical vertebrae' you're talking about?"

"Y-yes… My cervical vertebrae is my spine…"

Sokka and Katara shuddered. To change the subject, Latvia said quickly, "T-two of my comrade- two of Mister Ivan's other lackeys… th-they were taken here, too… You can ask them…"

"Speaking of which, how many other people were taken here, anyway?" asked Katara. "From your world, I mean."

I thought for a moment. "Let's see… It was you and the other two Baltics- you, Toris, and Eduard, and Gilbert was with you. I was with jerk-Arthur, and… are we missing someone?"

Latvia looked up. "I-I th-think he is part of that group… eight… the G8?"

"That's my brother; my brother's adopted brother, your ex-boss, the Vargas twins, Kiku, Ludwig, and Francis, right? But that's still not eight…"

"What are you talking about?" Sokka interrupted. "That _was_ eight."

"The Vargas twins count as one," Latvia said quickly. _How could I forget?_ I silently cursed. They were both Italy and so counted as one in the G8, but they didn't know that.

"How can they? I mean, they are different people… right?"

Different? A ditzy, innocent North compared to an angry, sharp-tongued South? Spanish and Austrian rule? Arts versus agriculture? Innocent North? Heck, Romano had Sicily, mafia and all. Like Kate and Bianca from Taming of the Shrew…

"Very different," I concluded. "But, I think the eighth member is somehow related to me… Let's see, I have an awfully complicated family already… I have my brother, my brother's older brothers-"

"Wait, what do you mean by your brother's brothers?" Sokka asked suspiciously. "Your brother's brother is your sister- I mean brother."

"That's what I mean by complicated," I replied fervently. "I don't even have the same mother as the rest of my brothers. Heck, even the- twins-"

Latvia and I looked at each other. "We forgot C-Mathew!"

"Who?" Sokka and Katara said in unison.

"My father adopted a pair of twins before I was born, one of them was Mathew," I said. That wasn't entirely a lie, jerk-England took in America and later Canada, but we didn't even share the same father… not exactly. Most nations suddenly become conscious from out of nowhere, so they say that the nation before them was their parent, or grandparent with Italia's case. Jerk-England and his brothers consider Britannia their mother, I can't. The only person I can consider my actual father was the man who created me and my brothers, Guy Maunsell. But then again, America doesn't consider those who discovered him his fathers, so that theory is flawed… As a matter of fact, strictly speaking, since my materials came from him, jerk-England is my father. Pushing that kind-of disgusting though out of my head, I said, "That's probably everyone. Now, can I try that on?"

I grabbed a likely-looking robe-thing and pants, and dashed behind the curtain. I've never actually wore this kind of clothing, but it seemed to fit, and I could move in it. (Think Haru's debut clothing, except with a green body and brown y-neck).

"Is this all right?" I asked when I came out.

Katara shook her head. "Your sash is on backwards. Here," she adjusted it so that the knot was in the back.

I looked down at my discarded clothing. "Hold on," I said, and picked up my scarf. "I don't feel comfortable without something on my head. Let me try this…" I wrapped it around my head like a headband. "There. That should do it."

"Ravis, do you have anything you want to keep?" asked Katara.

He shuddered some more, and shook his head violently.

"You sure?" I asked.

He nodded. "Clothing is not that important in my culture… besides keeping us warm…"

"It's cold where you're from?" asked Sokka. "It's always cold at the South Pole, where we live."

"W-where I'm from… it's cold during the winter…" said Latvia. "The summer is mild, but the winter…"

"It averages below freezing," I said automatically. "It's normal for heavy snowstorms to occur [1]."

"Wait, you said 'where I'm from'," Katara noticed. "You mean you don't live together?"

"No," I said. "It's actually warmer where I'm from, but it rains a lot. I'm used to it."

Katara looked at our regular clothing. "So, this is normal in your world? People wear white and blue where you're from, and maroon where you're from?" she asked, glancing at each of us in turn.

"Yes…" I said.

"So, what other colors do you wear in your world?" asked Sokka. "We're from the Water Tribes, so we wear blue, Aang's an Air Nomad, so he wears orange and yellow. Fire Nation wears red and black, Earth Kingdom wears yellow, green, brown, yada yada."

"Hang on, that's not what I meant," I said, realizing the misunderstanding. "In our world, there's no rule towards what color your clothing is. As long as you're wearing something, you can wear whatever you want."

Latvia shuddered. "As long as you're in a place that allows you to do that," I added.

"Wait… you can wear whatever colors you want?" Sokka repeated. "You mean… it's not changed by nation?"

"Th-there are too many…" Latvia muttered.

"How many?"

"About two hundred," I answered.

He gaped at me. "T-two h-hundred? Th-that's more than the people we have back at the South Pole!"

"How… how did you allow yourselves to separate like that?" Katara asked, shocked. "Like that, you'd be-"

"Weaker?" Latvia said with uncharacteristic dryness. "In our world, everything is more complicated. Some people refuse to live under the rule of the ones ruling over them. They rebel, and they create their own nation."

Latvia… are you still thinking of Russia? His people killed their ruling class, and forced you and the other Baltics to live under him.

"In turn, more nations are created by those who colonize new lands," I continued on his train of thought. "Still more are established by those who already live there."

"W-wow…" Sokka stuttered. "Here… we have four nations… wait, both Water Tribes count as two… and the Air Nomads are gone… yeah, that's four."

Latvia shuddered a little. "I… think that the reason why you have only four nations because of Bending."

Sokka slapped himself. "And **how** does that make a difference?"

It's like race, I told myself. They don't seem to have a concept of race here, so Bending is what sets them apart. "Just call it national pride," I said.

"Okay…"

X (Sokka POV) (Later)

"Hey, Katara," I whispered to her while we were outside the city. Aang had finished his last ride, and we were loading all of our stuff onto Appa.

"What is it?" she whispered back. "Are you finally sorry about-"

"Fine, I'm sorry about the mangoes," I said. There's never any point in making Katara angry. "But remember what Peter said?"

"About how we manage to keep four nations? I don't get it either."

"No, it's not about that," I said, exasperated. "Remember when they were listing who was with them?"

"Yeah…" she said, in a 'so what' tone of voice.

"He said 'Ravis and the other Baltics'. It's kind of suspicious that he'd call them that when it's only the three of them…"

"What about the fact that he has brothers that he's not even related to?" she retorted. "And what about the fact that the Vargas brothers count as one person?"

"And that Ravis can look like he's nine even though he's taller than Peter?"

There was an awkward pause. "That too. But the thing that bugs me the most is-"

"Hey!" Aang called. "We're going to leave without you if you don't get on!"

We looked at each other. "Let's talk about this later," she said.

I nodded, and both of us clamored onto Appa's saddle. "Yip-yip!" Aang waved the ropes, and Appa rose into the air. "It'll be about another few hours until Appa will have to come down again, so try to stay comfortable!" he said to Peter and Ravis. Not another long flight… even if this is better than walking.

X (Sealand POV)

"So, this is what we have for dinner," said Sokka. "The mangoes turned out to be almost rotten, so this is what we have. Weird nut number one, weird nut number two, and a nut that looks like a rock… or might just be a rock."

I held it between my fingers and crushed it. "There's no pit. It's a rock," I said nonchalantly.

"H-h-how…" Sokka looked at me in shock.

"Sokka, that was just Earthbending… wasn't it?" Katara reasoned.

Aang shook his head. "No Earthbending I've ever seen. All Bending requires some sort of stance before-"

"Alternate dimension," I said. It was actually the fact that I was made out of metal, but I couldn't say that.

"Yeah, like that solves everything," Sokka said sarcastically.

BOOM! There was a sound like thunder, or a rock falling.

I looked at Aang. Latvia looked at me. Sokka looked at Katara. Katara looked at Aang. "Let's go," we decided unanimously.

More loud noises echoed from- "Look!" Aang whispered. Ahead of us was a dried-up canal, and there was a guy- in clothing almost identical to mine- moving rocks… with his mind.

"Is that… Earthbending?" asked Latvia.

"Uh-huh. Let's go meet him!"

"HI!" I called. "My name is-"

He turned around and saw us. He sprinted off and- BOOM! The canal caved in. "Well, at least there was no water to block," I said.

Sokka hit himself again. "Let's just concentrate on following him."

"Why?" asked Katara.

"Because if he's running, then he must have somewhere to run to," said Aang. "Like a village!"

"And if there's a village-" Katara began.

"There's a market!" Sokka finished.

"Great plan," I said. "We don't have any money."

"We'll figure something out," Aang said optimistically.

X

The market did have some nice stuff… too bad we had no money.

"Look!" Katara pointed. "It's the Earthbender!"

He didn't see us, and went into what seemed to be his house.

"Let's go follow him and violate breaking and entering laws!" Sokka cried out.

There was another pause. "It's a shop, Sokka," said Aang. "We don't get arrested for entering a shop."

Sokka sighed. "I was **trying** to be dramatic."

Katara opened the door. The Earthbender was inside, talking to his mother. He looked depressed…

"Hey, you're that Earth-"

"SHH!" the Bender shut all the windows and the door. "I'm- not an Earthbender."

His mother gave him a sharp, but surprised look. "They saw you Earthbending?!"

"Th-they're crazy, Mom!" he protested. "Look at how they're dressed!"

We looked at our clothes. "You do know that we're wearing almost identical sets of clothes, right?"

There was an awkward pause. "R-right…" he said. "But while you may not be dressed like you're crazy, you might just be-"

"Mēs neesam traki!" Latvia shouted.

"He said that we're not crazy," I translated.

The Earthbender gave his mother a desperate look. "I told you, they're-"

"Wait," Sokka came between them. "You just asked if he was Earthbending, which you would normally only asked when you know that he is capable of Earthbending. That proves that he is an-"

"Don't say it!" both mother and son said in unison. "Haru, you know how dangerous Earthbending is!" his mother cried. "If they catch you, you-"

KNOCK! KONCK! KNOCK! "Open up!" a firm male voice called from the outside.

Sokka opened a window slightly. "Fire nation troops!" he reported. "Quick, act natural!"

Aang grabbed a hat from a stand and covered his arrow tattoo. Katara grabbed a bowl of fruit and began eating some. Sokka held an apple in front of Haru like he was asking the price of something. Before I could do anything, Latvia grabbed a Swiss army knife from his pocket and held it in the palm of his hand. "**Keep looking at it**," he whispered urgently.

Haru's mother opened the door. A man in Japanese- no, Fire Nation armor strode in arrogantly. "We're here to collect payment."

Haru's mother looked at him, hardly defiant at all. "We already paid here. Go-"

The man just smirked and raised a hand. Fire sprouted in all directions. "Accidents can happen at any time."

Tinkle…. FREEZE! No word I knew could describe the sound of ice materializing so rapidly. "Wh-wh- my hand!"

I looked at Latvia. He was shaking like a baby orangutan in Siberia… Perfect condition for his ice power.

"Y-you'll regret this!" the man ran off, his troops following.

Haru looked at us, impressed. "Which one of you did that?"

I pointed at Latvia. He started to shake even more.

"This town… how long has the Fire Nation been here?" asked Sokka.

"About five years, and everyone here's too afraid to try and drive them out," Haru practically spat.

"Haru! Don't say that!" his mother chastised. "If they hear you, they'll-"

"But why did you run off when Peter called you?" asked Latvia.

Haru's mother shook her head. "Earthbending is forbidden here. It's caused us nothing but misery…"

"Dad… was taken by the Fire Nation," Haru explained. "All Earthbenders discovered by the soldiers… are taken away to the-"

"Concentration camp?" I asked.

"Gulag? Kolhoz?" Latvia shuddered.

"… I guess you know what we mean," said Haru's mother. "Whatever you do, Haru, never Earthbend, even if you think no one is watching!"

To us, she said, "You can stay in the barn. It's over that way," she pointed north. "Haru, please take them."

He nodded resignedly. "Yes mom."

X

"Haru and I are going for a walk," said Katara. "Be right back!"

"Okay!" I knew what was going on… jerk-England may deny it now, but he used to be so… well, I saw the James Bond movies. Austin Powers movies show it better. [2]

X

(Note- I skip this part, because there's nothing new to add on. Basically, Haru rescues old man with Earthbending, old man turns him in.)

"Haru's been taken away!" Haru's mother shouted, breaking the early morning tranquility.

THUMP. "Wh-what!?" I cried. "K-Katara! Did he-"

Katara was sitting still from the shock. "A-all he did was save an old man… why did he…"

Haru's mother slumped. "I… I can't blame Haru for saving him… b-but…"

Katara stood up. "We need to save him."

"But… how?" asked Latvia. "W-we do not even know what that G- K- where it is!"

Katara had a fierce glow in her eyes. "We don't have to worry about that," she said.

"Well, why not?" asked Sokka. "What are you going to do, magically change into an Earthbender?"

She nodded.

Sokka leaned towards Aang. "If it weren't so serious, I'd say she's going crazy!"

X

"Okay, so you're not crazy," Sokka admitted. "But faking Earthbending is a great idea! All we have to do is get Aang to Airbend through that shaft, and this boulder will levitate!"

"Wh-what should we do?" asked Latvia.

"Just… stay to the side."

I gave him a thumb up, and hid behind a nearby rock.

Sokka listened for a moment. "They're coming, get into position!"

Katara strode forward in a fake angry way. Sokka purposefully bumped into her. "Get Out Of My Way You Pipsqueak," he said in an over-the-top voice.

"How Dare You Call Me A Pipsqueak You Giant Eared Cretan!" Katara shouted in an equally fake voice.

I mouthed to Latvia, 'and they expect them to believe this?'

"What Did You Call Me?"

"A Giant Eared Cretan. Look At Those Things. Do Herds Of Animals Use Them For Shade?"

"You Better Back Off!" Sokka leaned in and whispered. "No, seriously, back off."

"I Will Not Back Off. I Bet Elephants Gather Around To Make Fun Of Those Ears!"

"You Are Going Down!"

"No, You Are Going Down! Earth Bending Style!" Katara fixed herself into a dramatic pose. Nothing happened. I threw my hands up in exasperation. How was this going to work?

"I Said, Earth Bending Style!" Katara repeated. This time, Aang caught on, and Airbent into the vents. The rock hovered a few inches of the ground for ten seconds

"I-It's the lemur! The lemur is Earthbending!" one of the soldiers announced.

"No, you idiot, it's the girl!" his companion argued.

"You're both wrong, it's the boy!"

Boy? Latvia pointed to my arms. Oh… I forgot to take them down… It looked as if I were Bending, too.

"Take them away," the commander said. "Both of them. One of them must have Bent that rock. One out of two isn't bad."

As they took us away, Latvia gave me a look that said, 'Oh no, you're going to die.' I replied with a, 'Don't worry, I'll be okay' look.

I gave Katara a 'Look, it is better with two people' look. She replied with a blank one.

Sokka hit himself. No surprise there…

X

They took us on a metal ship to what looked like an oil rig. Kind of like my land… with the addition of the agony of laboring masses. As far as I could see, it was all metal…

"Welcome, I am your…" the warden was going on and on about the prison. Basically, it was a coal mine, we were the laborers…

"…You may notice that this is made entirely out of metal. You are miles away from any rock or earth…"

"Except for coal and the rock underwater," I whispered instinctively to Katara.

We kept on walking until we reached a massive platform. After going through a solid metal gate, it closed behind us. We were trapped.

"Peter, what were you thinking?!" Katara yelled. "This isn't a game! It's dangerous here!"

I wasn't listening. I was too angry at the Fire Nation soldiers. This was like… Auschwitz. An entire labor camp, where the people the Fire Lord hates go to be executed. Just because of their race… or nationality, whatever. "This is… horrible…" I didn't even have a word strong enough…

"I know… Haru!" Katara saw him, and dashed towards him.

"K-Katara!" he responded. "What are you doing here?!"

"We're here to rescue all of you," she replied.

Haru smiled. "Well, you've got guts, that's for sure. And what's-"

"Long story," covered Katara.

He put his arm around her. "Okay… I want you to meet my father."

This sounds like a wedding proposal to me… "Agh!" I tripped! But what could I trip over? It's a flat surface… wait, there's a rut! But it wasn't there before…

"You mean that your plan is just to wait until the war ends?!" Katara shouted.

I listened some more. So they broke the spirits of the Earthbenders so much that they can't even rebel? Those-

"Here. Have some soup," Haru's father handed me a bowl.

"N-no thanks, I'm not hungry," I said. "You need your strength more than I do."

He shook his head. "We know how low we have fallen if we cannot feed a child."

I accepted the bowl. After all, there was no point in- "Ouch!" the spoon-

_A lot of emotion was put into this metal spoon. Of all the nations, I alone could feel the emotions of metal, being made of it. The metal alone lacks emotions; emotions are transferred to it when it is used. I could feel the shame, humiliation, and the subjugation of this once proud people. They- _[3]

_It was 1943; four years after the war had begun. Back then, I was known as HM Fort Roughs. I had been completed just last year, and I was awaiting deployment. Fight the Axis… Those were the thoughts of the factory workers who wrought my steel and poured and mixed my concrete. I could feel the pain of the Blitz from the steel…_

_"Hello," a battered young man stood before me. I wasn't even aware that I was sitting on the floor until then. I couldn't even remember being in that room at all. I knew I was thinking right now, but I couldn't remember thinking at all, just seeing and feeling thoughts of others. But now… I had a body similar to the shapes of the workers who made me, but smaller and less curved. That's because I'm a boy, my intuition told me. Those workers were women. Anything I wondered about, I knew automatically. "What is your name?" asked the young man. So cold, so distant…_

_"I am HM Fort Roughs," I said automatically. I had never spoken in my life. Life? I couldn't remember being born at all…_

_The man examined me for a moment. "You're different from the others," he said._

_I was silent. He did not ask me a question. I had no reason to answer._

_"You are the only one who has gained a human form," he said. "None of your brothers have gained a consciousness. They are, and always will be, just a hunk of metal. But you…"_

_If I had emotions back then, I would have shouted, "They're not hunks of metal! They're my brothers!" But I didn't. I saw no reason to._

_He examined me closer. "I have never heard of a fort becoming like us before. But still…" He sighed. "I can't talk to you for long. I have to leave for Germany soon. Listen, I want you to hop on your land- or body, as you might think of it as-, and stay there until you reach your location. Your mission is to…"_

_That's what his first words to me were. But it didn't end there._

_"What is your name?" I did not feel, but I felt an impulse to take in something, anything, that was a part of this place. I would never return, I felt._

_The man paused. "So you don't know, then. I am the British Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, England, and what you should call me, Arthur Kirkland."_

_"Do I… have a name?" I asked. I wanted him to give me one. This man… "Brother? Big brother?"_

_Sorrow filled his face, but I could see a glimmer of pride and happiness somewhere. "Okay," he said. "Your name is…"_

_Peter. Peter Kirkland. I've kept that name ever since. After that, I hid on my former body- the fort- and remained there ever since. Being personified was like having a part of me cut out, like an arm or a leg- and hung in my house, knowing that I could never reattach it to my body, ever. Or leaving the home that you lived in for your whole life- and never find it again, no matter how hard you searched. The other nations and mirconations never felt anything like that, no, they just woke up in a field or something._

_But there were some things that I could do now that I was personified. The first and most important was that I was now practically immortal, and felt anything that happened to my land.. The second was that, like the other nations, as long as I was on my land, I could teleport anywhere on my land during peacetime. Handy, if you were a nation like England or Italy, and really useful if you're big like Russia. But it was a useless skill when you could walk anywhere in a few minutes on my land. The third was the ability to read the minds of my citizens, to an extent. But the last skill was one that only I had, out of all the nations and mirconations in the world._

"Peter!" Katara shouted. "You just dropped the spoon!"

I gave her a long, steady look. "Katara. We have to rescue everyone."

"Well, what can we do?" asked Haru. "The warden said, there's no rock for mile-"

"Except for the rock underwater, the rocks in the mines, and the coal," I said automatically.

Katara smiled. "Coal? We just have to get our hands on some coal."

Haru surveyed the area. "The first thing we need to do is spread word about the coal. Next, we need to steal the coal. It's in that giant structure there," he pointed to the obvious tower.

"But how do we get it out?" Katara pondered.

I looked at the bowl of soup… wait a minute! "Katara! Haru!"

"You have an idea?!" Katara said. "Let's hear it!"

I shook my head. "No, look at the soup."

"I don't see anything wrong with it," said Haru.

"No… Peter's right," Katara observed. "Look at the soup. Even though Peter set in down, it's steadily pouring out. But why…?"

On impulse, I slapped my hands on the metal and concentrated. The metal warped at my thoughts, making the surface level again.

"P-Peter?" Katara asked in shock. "What was that?"

I tried doing it again. This time, the metal warped into a smiley face. "I think… I can Bend metal."

"But that's impossible," said Haru. "No Earthbender has ever managed to Bend-"

"I don't think I'm an Earthbender, though," I said. "I only get this feeling with metal." And I didn't dare say why.

"Well, we now have our way into the tower," said Katara rationally. "Are you up to it?"

I nodded. I was going to get revenge on those neo-Nazi (illegitimate sons).

X

"You remember the plan?" Katara asked.

I nodded. "I go with Haru, break into the tower and get as much coal as possible. He sends it to the others, and you stir up a rebellion."

She nodded. "Go!"

As we trudged along the metal pathway, Haru asked me a question. "How is it that your hair is yellow? I heard that only Air Nomads and their descendants have yellow hair."

"It's a long story," I said. "Let's just say that I'm not from around here. You're saying that it's the general wisdom that Air Nomads are blonde?"

"Blonde?"

"They have yellow hair, I mean." Of course they don't have a word for blonde, this is like Asia!

"Well… no one's seen an Air Nomad for a hundred years…" Haru admitted. "But we do know that they shaved their hair."

"So you never knew what color their hair was," I said. "Therefore, you assumed that their hair was yellow."

"Well… yeah… Look, just ahead! It's the tower!"

It didn't even look that big compared to jerk-England's Big Ben or America's skyscrapers. But, it was filled with coal. I put my hands on it and focused.

BOOM! The wall collapsed. "Okay, Haru, send this to everyone!"

He nodded. He waved his arms, and all of the coal surged towards the platform.

"Katara should be there by now, but we'd better help the others!" Haru shouted. As quickly as we could, we sprinted back.

"Katara!" I called. "We have your-"

She was surrounded by guards.

"Everyone!" Haru called. "Your courage is needed! We have provided the earth, you must Bend your way to freedom!"

All of the Earthbenders were suddenly inspired, and began to Bend it towards the soldiers.

WHOOSH! One brave soldier launched a fireball at Haru, but-

THUM! His father created a shield from the coal-

Which burned. I pounded my forehead with my fists. "Goddamn it!" I shouted, along with several other of jerk-England's pirate swears. "I forgot! Coal is only technically a rock! It's fossilized plant matter! It's organic carbon based residue of once living organisms! It burns!"

Katara gave me a sharp look. "Well, the coal was your idea!"

"It was our best bet!" I retorted. "The next one was the sand under the water!"

I was so frustrated at the failure of our plan that… the rig began to shake. Rumblerumblerumble… grindgrindgrind… The metal warped, leaving little surface for anyone to stand on. "Peter!" yelled Katara. "Stop it! You're going to kill all of us! We already have enough sand!"

My anger subsided. The metal was clearly still warped, but none of it was moving. I looked at the Earthbenders, and they were chasing off the soldiers with sand.

"S-sorry," I said.

"Don't scare us like that again," Katara said firmly, but forgivingly.

X

"… We will take back our homes and our villages!" Haru's father made a rousing speech, most of which I ignored.

But before I forgot- "Take the metal with you," I said to him. "Most of it can still be used."

Not all of it could be, however. After they retake their villages, they would return to being farmers. Most weapons would be re-forged into farming implements. One thing that I knew about metal was that if used for fighting for too long and the owner was filled with an aggressive emotion, it could almost never be used for anything else again. I nabbed all of those 'fighting metals' from the rig, and Bent it all into a gauntlet. Like the Fullmetal Alchemist, I could turn it into anything metal.

"My mother's necklace! It's gone!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Latvia's climate- I looked it up. Those are the average temperatures, converted to F.

[2] James Bond and Austin Powers- I can't say this and keep the rating. Just, watch the movies, and you'll see what I mean.

[3] Sealand's ability- **This scene was actually edited into the story long after I published it.**

Can anyone guess who the Firebender joining Team Avatar is? It probably isn't who you would think…

What bugs Katara so much? What other powers did the nations acquire? And when will the others appear next?


	8. Chapter 8

Still don't know who the Firebender is? *Laughs because I know and you don't* Like I said, it's most likely not who you think it is. He'll be revealed, soon enough… next chapter if I'm lucky.

No OCs! That's final. Also, the Four Nations will not appear.

I will have shifting POVs, but I won't go crazy.

Chapter 8 (Katara POV)

"Gran-Gran's necklace! It's gone!" I shouted. We just came back from the prison camp, and now-

"You probably just dropped it," Sokka tried to rationalize. "We'll look for it next time we pass by."

I splashed water over him. "It's Gran-Gran's necklace!" I panicked. "That's like… your boomerang, or Aang's arrow!"

Peter grabbed my shoulders. "We can't stop and look for it! The Fire Nation must have caught up with you by now!"

"Zuko must be there by now," said Sokka.

I sighed. Part of me hoped that we'd come back for it eventually, but…

X

That night, we camped out in the forest. When the others were asleep, I woke Sokka up. "Psst. Sokka!"

"Five… more minutes… Gran-Gran…"

"Sokka!" I soaked him in water from my cask.

"Agpth! You didn't have to do that!" he whispered indignantly.

"Yes, I did," I said, and pulled the water from his body, leaving him dry. "Remember out conversation we had the other night?"

"The one about nuts?"

"No, what I found different about Peter and Ravis."

"So what did you find?"

I paused for effect. "Remember the gun?"

"How could I forget?" Sokka replied. "You saved the life of a Fire Nation soldier. I hope that won't ever happen again…"

"Have you ever wondered why they have guns where they're from?"

Sokka gaped. "You woke me up just for that?!"

I nodded. "This is important."

He hit himself. "How can that be important enough to soak a sleeping guy with water in the middle of the night?"

"My point is, what kind of world do they come from, that has weapons like theirs? Why would they make something like a gun? Are Peter and Ravis used to fighting?"

"What about us?" asked Sokka. "You have magic water that attacks people, and I have weapons."

"That's different. Your weapons are tools for survival in the South Pole. And Bending can be used for stuff besides fighting… except for Firebending. Firebending can never be used for anything but destruction."

He thought on this. "Well, I'm going to bed. Good night, and don't even think of doing this again!"

Splash. "Sorry, but you were practically begging for it."

X

The next day, we were flying on Appa, as usual. Peter was concentrating on practicing his Metalbending, turning his gauntlet into a gun, a knife, a potato peeler… wait, what's a potato?

"Look…" Aang said, almost inaudible from the wind. "Is that…"

"A burned forest," confirmed Ravis. We landed without a word. Aang… I'm worried about what this world is coming to…

Aang walked through the scorched earth, so sadly that I couldn't stand it. To help him, I sifted through the sand a revealed a small acorn. "Aang… this may just be an acorn, but it will eventually grow to be an entire forest someday."

X (Meanwhile) (Zuko POV)

"Uncle! We're leaving!" I shouted. What was taking him so long?

"Ah, nephew!" Uncle Iroh called gleefully. "How about a soak in this hot spring? You should relax every once in a while, all this stress is bad for your qi."

I sighed. Uncle was always like this… "Okay, five more minutes."

X

"You're the Avatar, are you not?" an elderly man called. "I am from a nearby village, and we have a problem concerning the Spirit World."

"The… Spirit World?" Aang repeated. "Uh… sir, I may be the Avatar, but…"

"You must come to my village immediately!" the old man said quietly, but with a lot of force. "You will understand when we arrive."

Seeing as we had no choice, we followed him along a long path. "Recently, we have been attacked by a spirit monster known as HeiBai."

"And it is black and white?" asked Peter arbitrarily. (Hei is black, bai is white in Chinese)

"Yes. How did you know?" asked the elder.

"Long story," he covered up. Okay, something was suspicious about this Metalbending, gun-wielding twelve-year old child.

"At sunset, one of our villagers is taken, and our houses destroyed," continued the elder.

We arrived at the village before long. I saw a few houses destroyed, but others right next to it were left standing. If it were fire, it would have spread. "Come in to our head house, and stay the night," the elder asked of us. "Please, Avatar, help us in our hour of greatest need."

"Who are these folk?" a man emerged from the head house.

"This is the Avatar, who will help us in our time of need," said the elder. Wow, he was bossy… but he had a reason to be.

"I am the village chief," the man introduced himself. "Please, help us before the Winter Solstice arrives!"

"The Winter Solstice?" repeated Peter.

"On the night of the Solstices, the lines between the Spirit and Physical worlds are blurred completely," explained the head.

"Like Hallow's Eve in our world," Peter whispered to Ravis so that only the two of us could hear. [1]

"And if HeiBai steals people because you're getting closer to the Spirit world…" Sokka began.

"Tad viņš būs nozagt vēl vairāk cilvēkus prom laikā ziemas saulgrieži," finished Ravis.

"He said that he'd steal even more people during the Winter Solstice," translated Peter.

"Exactly," said the chief.

"But… why me?" asked Aang.

"The Avatar is one who is especially close to the Spirit World and can travel between the worlds at will," explained the elder.

"Right," said Aang sarcastically.

"Aang? Are you sure about this?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Did your brother ever say anything about Spirits?" he asked Peter.

Peter nodded. "I have a record of something that might be important, but we'll have to go where the villagers can't hear us."

"Wow, that sounds completely unsuspicious," said Sokka. "Let's go do it!"

We left the village and ducked behind a bamboo grove, where Peter took a handheld device out of his bag. "Now, this is what we call a tape recorder. It can record sounds, like people's voices. I think that this is the right one."

He pressed a button, and someone's voice came out. "Bzzt- It's just (stupid) I could never come up with the same design," said one of the voices. "I think it's (stupid) very unique."

"Hey, thanks man," another voice said enthusiastically. "It was actually created to help me beat the holy hell out of you, so I'm glad you think it's style." [2]

The tape stopped. "Wh-what was that? Who were those-"

"I told you, it records people's voices," said Peter. "The one who said that it was stupid was jerk-Arthur, and the other was Alfred, who, by a long series of complicated events; is actually my brother."

"You've got a very nice family, there…" said Sokka dryly. "You brother built something to 'beat the holy hell out of' your other brother?"

"Long story," Peter said, as was his excuse for almost everything. "That was the wrong one. I think this might be it."

"Bzzt- ugh…" Arthur groaned from the tape. "Am I Catholic… or Protestant?"

"Wrong one," said Peter, and he used another tape.

"Count off!" a loud voice called. Ravis flinched. [3]

"Uno!" a carefree sounding voice called.

"Ni!" said another, more serious voice.

"It's time to start our training!" the gruff voice called. "Ve vill star with ze sings zat every soldier should know!"

"Yes sir!" replied the carefree voice.

"Eh?!" the more serious voice said, startled.

"That's also the wrong one," said Peter. "The loud one was Ludwig, the girly one was Feliciano, and the confused one was Kiku."

"They're soldiers?" asked Sokka.

Peter nodded. "Ravis is kind of afraid of Ludwig, Feli's afraid of my brother, and Kiku's friends with my brother. Ludwig is also the younger brother of Gilbert, who came with us."

"Um… Peter?" asked Ravis.

"Yes?"

"Is it… legal to record something like this?" he asked shyly.

"Of course it (was when this was taken) is!" said Peter, channeling his brother.

"Hey, can I see?" asked Sokka, and he pressed another button.

There was a knocking noise, like someone was banging on a door. Someone was shuddering from inside the tape, and Ravis was shuddering like crazy. "Big brother, big brother!" a female voice called. "Come on, let's become one!"

Peter stopped the tape before we could get any more grossed out. "That was Natalya, Ivan's younger sister, and the only one he's actually afraid of. She wants to marry Ivan."

"Next," sweated Sokka, and he pressed the button.

"MARRY ME, MARRY ME, MARRY ME, MARRY ME-"

Sokka pressed another button before we could freak out any more.

"POLAND YOU'RE A JERK AND A BAD FRIEND!" someone yelled loudly.

"SHOUTING!" someone new screamed

"WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?!" someone… Wait, was that…?

"Was that you?" asked Aang. "Ravis?"

He nodded. "That was Toris and Eduard, who used to live with me… They're here, too."

"And all three of you slept in the same bed," said Peter.

Ravis shuddered. "It was cold… and there was only one bed, blanket, and pillow between us…"

Sokka handed the recorder back to Peter. "I guess you'd better handle this."

Peter nodded, and pressed another button. "Bzzzt- Pipe down! Your country once surrendered to a Boy Scout troop on holiday!" yelled Arthur.

"Dat was years ago!" someone responded.

Peter stopped it. "That was Francis, who hates my brother. My brother also hates him, which all evens out."

He tried another one. This one opened with the crackle of a large fire. "Bring on the fire…" chanted Arthur. "Bring on the hell… set everything ablaze so that no trace remains… bring on the fire-"

"I FEEL LIKE WE'RE SUMMONING THE DEVIL!" screamed Alfred.

"Close, but not enough," said Peter. "They were around a campfire," he said, seeing our horrified expressions. "They weren't burning down anything."

"Okay then…" said Sokka skeptically.

"Next!"

"Bzzt- Sealand, if you are ever in a situation where an entire village in on the verge of being taken into an alternate Spirit World, the first thing you should do is-"

Click. "And that's the end of that tape," said Peter.

"Then try the next one!" shouted Sokka.

"BZZT! VEST VON'T DRINK BE~ER! VEST VON'T DRINK BE~ER!" someone loud mocked. Peter shut the tape as quickly as he could. "That was Gilbert, who should be here with us. He's extremely hyperagressive and arrogant, but he fights like a… well, he'd make King Bumi look like a milkmaid."

"He's also… much less mature…" said Ravis.

Sokka hit himself. "So you in fact, don't have any idea about what to do. That's great."

"But I-"

FOOM! "It's HeiBai!"

X (Meanwhile…)

"Uncle!" I called. "Uncle! Where are you?!"

I surveyed the spring where my uncle was an hour ago. "Those spikes… Uncle Iroh's been captured by Earthbenders!"

"Sir!" said one of the soldiers. "We have to leave soon. Like you said, the Avatar-"

"The… Avatar can wait," I said. I couldn't believe I was saying this, but… "I'll go after him. You stay at the ship, and I'll go pick Uncle up." I paused… Someone's there… "Hey, you!" I yelled at the forest.

"S-sveiki…" someone called from behind the trees. A young man, about nineteen or twenty, emerged from the bushes. He was dressed in an Earth Kingdom man's (A/N Chinese kimono-like garment), but it was tattered and patched in several areas. On his left side, there was a long tear, attached by a hastily sewn thread. "I-I mean, hello…"

"Who are you?" I asked. It was one thing to see an Earth Kingdom resident in the Earth Kingdom, but someone who didn't run away when encountering a Fire Nation squadron.

"Th-those soldiers who took your uncle…" the guy began. "Zey… vere chasing me…"

I looked at him with suspicion. "Why?" he asked. "Why would Earth Kingdom soldiers try to capture their own citizen?"

"I…" he began shaking, so I decided not to press the matter.

"What is your name?" I asked instead.

"Z-zere is no time! I- I know where zey might be headed!" the stranger said, trying to distract me. "They always use the same paths when they go searching…Their base is over that way," he pointed to a far off mountain. "Zey… took somesing zat vas important to me… And I can't fight a-lone!"

"So… you want to come with me?" I offered. The man nodded. "Lead the way."

X

HeiBai was… gigantic. It looked vaguely like a spider-panda… But it was terrifying! We had long taken refuge in the head house, since Aang was supposed to go out alone, but…

"Please stop attacking people!" Aang tried to reason with it.

"Aang!" I called. "Be careful!"

"He's not listening to me!" Aang yelled back.

"We need to help him!" Sokka leapt out the window, and threw his boomerang at him.

"N-nē!" Ravis did the first thing he could think of, and grabbed Sokka's ankle after him. His extreme fear froze the ground in front of them, and they slid straight towards HeiBai. Before they could say a word, HeiBai grabbed them, and fled.

"Wait up!" called Aang, and he opened up his staff into a glider. Using Airbending, he chased after them.

"Aang!" I called.

"Ravis!" cried Peter, his face strewn with tears.

"They're… gone…"

X (meanwhile…)

"So… now, if the karma rate was thrust into flux," began Estonia, "Then-"

"…"

"! Wh-what was that?! L-LATVIAAAAAA!"

X

"This is the path that zey use ze most," said the stranger. "They should be-"

"That's Uncle's slipper!" I shouted. "He must have left it here so that I could follow him!"

"Y-yes…" said the stranger, his efforts dashed.

"And look! Chocobo- I mean, ostrich-horse tracks!" I pointed at something else.

"And the base is-"

"It's a message written out in stone using traditional Chinese characters! It says that he's going to the base on the mountain!"

"They should arrive-"

"It also says that they should arrive in three hours, forty-seven minutes, and twenty eight seconds."

X (Aang POV)

I looked at my surroundings. I hit my head on a rock… I was back at the burned forest! "Sokka! Ravis!" I shouted, but to no avail. "You're not here. I failed."

All there was to do was… walk back, and apologize to Katara. _How could I fail_? I thought as I trudged through the dark woods. It was bad enough that they were being kidnapped, but now… Sokka and Ravis…

Katara and Peter were sitting out at the village gates, crying. "Katara… I'm sorry." I said. "You too, Peter."

Peter looked up. "Aang?" he said, looking straight at me.

"Aang!?" Katara looked up.

"Katara!" I shouted.

"What are you talking about, Peter?!" Katara rounded on Peter. "Aang's not there!"

She… can't see me? Peter gave me a wink, and said, "They'll be all right. We should get some rest." He, Katara, and the villagers entered the head house, and I heard snoring.

Moments later, Peter snuck out of the house. "I couldn't say anything in front of Katara, since it would sound like I was trying to mess with her head," he explained.

"How can you see me?" I asked. "No one else seems to be able to."

"That's most likely because of my family," replied Peter. "Jerk-Arthur could always see ghosts and spirits, and we share the same father."

"Same father? You mean that you don't share the same mother?" I said. "How…?"

"Peter?" Katara called. "What are you doing out here?"

"Er," Peter hastily Bent his gauntlet into a staff. "I'm… practicing."

Katara looked out. "You're waiting for Aang?" she asked. If only she knew…

"Uh-huh," Peter lied. "But let's go in. We can look for them in the morning." They went back to the head house.

"Bye…" I said. FWOOSH! Was that… a dragon?

X

(You should know the story. Aang is taken to Roku, receives instructions to go to his island to talk. This is lazy, but I'm not novelizing here!)

I'm back in my body! But… I was sitting on top of a statue… of a panda? A panda… I got it!

X

"There they are!" I whispered urgently to the stranger. "They have Uncle!"

The stranger scanned the area. "Zere are only five of them, but they have the advantage." He indicated to several tall rock formations. "See those? If we attack them there, they can collapse them with Earthbending. Right now, we have nowhere where we have the advantage, but do not vorry. It is late, they vill stop soon."

He was right. He managed to think keep calm in a situation like this? He thought of a plan, and where the terrain is best? This guy… he's good [4]. "Hey…" I had to ask. "What's your name?"

He regarded me with a surprised look. "C-call me… Lietuva."

TO BE CONTINUED!

**Lietuva is Lithuanian for Lithuania**.

[1] Hallow's Eve- is traditionally a time where… yeah, the spirit and physical worlds are closest.

[2] All those scenes recorded in the tape recorder came from the anime. I love Hetalia.

[3] Latvia being nervous at the sound of Germany's voice- I think that Latvia and the other Baltics were invaded by Germany.

[4] Lithuania and tactics- It took me literally five seconds for me to figure that out. Then again, I made the landscape.

Lithuania's accent- unlike the other characters, who have a consistent accent, Lithuania occasionally substitutes v for w and z for the th- sound, in the English dub, but not all the time. His foreign-tone-of-voice is always consistent, like the others, though.

Why is Lithuania with Zuko? What about Sokka and Latvia back in the Spirit World? And what is it that the soldiers stole from Lithuania? Why were they chasing him in the first place? Oh, wait, four questions? That won't happen again.


	9. Chapter 9

To Don'tDreamBeIt: Remember the one you didn't want to be the Firebender? I need him to be the Firebender, because the plot requires it. Actually, you were the only one to be even close…

Okay, seriously. Two people thought Prussia was the Firebender. I respect that, he was the Firebender in my first draft. Canada? No, but it's not too far off. England? I can see that… But China? America? They don't even appear. Then again, I added Austria and Hungary at the last minute in my other fic, so I can understand.

This is where the Firebender… will be revealed! *Shudders from excitement*

I have never been to Latvia. Therefore, the streets and street names were made up.

Chapter 9 (Sokka POV)

Was this the Spirit World? So strange… it was like a city… except the buildings were made of stacked stones, and had these weird things on top that looked like decorations…All these towers and spires and rooftop decorations… Nothing like I've ever seen. "Ravis?" I said nervously. "Please tell me you're here…"

There was no reply. I glanced around the area, hoping to see a living soul. No one was out here. 'Here' was a plaza paved with all stone, surrounded by weird buildings. There! A woman dressed in a strange dress came out of one building. "Hey!" I called, but she didn't answer. "You there!" I yelled in louder and louder tones, reasoning that if I annoyed her enough, she would start paying attention. No response. Annoyed, I strode towards her and grabbed her shoulder. Or at least tried… As soon as I came within a hair's breadth of her body, an invisible shield stopped me, like molasses… I tried to again, and the same force stopped me. On impulse, I tried to hit her as hard as I could, but not matter what, the force absorbed my blows. There was never any rebound, just severe dampening of energy. Without acknowledging me at all, she entered an alleyway.

A man dressed in uncomfortable-looking black-and-white clothing walked into the plaza. Again, I tried touching him, but nothing worked. I sighed. And I really had to go to the bathroom…

"Hey! Water Tribe kid!" bellowed a loud voice. A large man dressed in thankfully normal Earth Kingdom clothing strode towards me purposefully. "Can you hear me?!"

I sprinted towards him and poked him in the arm. It moved. "What's the big ide-"

I hugged him. "Thank goodness you're here," I said. "No one else can hear me."

He peeled me off. "That's all well and good, but where are we? A moment ago, we were in this empty space, and all of a sudden a city popped up!"

"It just… popped up?" I repeated. Sure, this was the Spirit World, but a city appearing from out of nowhere?

He nodded. "And… after this… city appeared, I lost my best friend and his wife…" He began to cry. Not knowing anything else to do, I patted him on the shoulder.

_Whoosh_… the wind whistled, forming sounds like syllables and silences like gaps between words. That's strange… I couldn't feel any wind at all! If I stood still, it sounded almost like… voices… hundreds… no, thousands… millions of voices all speaking at once. "Your…" "Friend is…" "Over to the…" "West…" they said. This was getting really creepy…

"He is?!" the man jumped, and dashed down another alley.

"You're…" "Going…" "The wrong…" "Way…" "Take the next right…" "Then take a left…" "Go straight…" "There!"

"Xi Gua!" a new man called. He was standing in what appeared to be a water fountain, which was kind of strange because he was standing on top of the spray without any apparent support. "Have you seen Li?"

"No… I'm sorry, Ping Guo," said Xi Gua. "Li's not here."

"And neither is Ravis…" I sighed. Where was he? And what about those voices?

"KYAAA!" A scream! A woman was inside of one of the stone buildings, and it looked like she was trapped.

"Li!" Ping Guo and Xi Gua yelled at the same time. "How did you get up there!?"

"I don't know!" she shouted back from an open window. "But I can't open the doors at all! They're stuck!"

The doors don't open? "We can't move anything here!" I shouted. "For some reason, if you try to touch anything or anyone, it absorbs the impact!" To emphasize this, I threw my boomerang at the ground. As I expected, it stopped with no recoil or impact. Wait a second… "JUMP!" I ordered.

"What?!" Li gasped. "Are you crazy!?"

"Don't worry!" I replied. "The ground's the same as anything else! It'll break your fall!"

"Well…" she looked at the ground skeptically. "I'll try…"

"Li! I'll catch you!" called Ping Guo, and he moved into position. What a good husband… And then a passing man nonchalantly shoved him out of the way.

Li hopped out the window, eyes closed in anticipation of the crash… that never came. Instead, she landed on her feet, the invisible force slowing and catching her moments before she hit the ground. Not believing it, she blinked several times. "That was…" she began upon emerging from the shock of jumping out a three-story building.

"Terrifying?" I put out.

"…yes," she said. "So… what happens now?"

I looked around. "We've got to find my friend," I said.

"What does… your friend look like?" asked Xi Gua as a man pushed though him without actually touching him.

"Let's see… he's short, he's always nervous, he talks with a stutter… his hair is this tan color…"

"Xi Gua, do you really think we can find him?" said Ping Guo dismally. "I mean, look!" he pointed at the crowd of people who kept jostling us around. "TEN other people have tan hair."

"Make that eleven," said Li. "Look, there's another-"

Shhhhhh… a gentle fizzing noise reverberated, and the city- with the people with it- began to slowly fade. In its place was a forest, slowly emerging… a village was in view… wait a minute, was that…?

"SOKKA! RAVIS!" Katara hugged both of us, while Peter and Aang hung behind. "We were so worried about you!"

Ravis? I turned around to the other person Katara was hugging, and lo and behold, Ravis was standing there like he was there the whole time. That's weird…

"Aang sent the Spirit home!" said Peter happily. "It turns out that HeiBai's the local forest spirit who was mad about the forest burning down, and he's a panda!"

"A… panda?" I repeated. That was almost as strange as a city appearing out of nowhere…

"You're back home from the Spirit World," said Katara. "How do you feel?"

Gulp… I forgot in the excitement… "Like I really need to use the bathroom. Ravis, come with me!" I dragged him with me, much to his chagrin.

"You need a bathroom buddy?" said Katara dryly. "You _really_ need one after fifteen years?"

I nodded, and found a clearing. Ah… nothing like refreshing your-

"S-so… why did you take me here?" asked Ravis nervously.

"Hold on," I waved a hand. "There. Now I really want to ask you something."

Ravis began to shake like a lamb-moose.

"Where were you when we were in the Spirit World?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I… don't know."

I slapped myself. "Never mind that, I don't even know where we were," I said.

"Riga," said Ravis without thinking. "Near St. Paul's Cathedral. Li jumped out of-"

"Riga?" I repeated. "That's where you said you were from, right?"

He looked like he could have hit himself. "And how did you know about Li jumping?"

"Y-you told her…" he trembled. He was getting himself in deeper and deeper trouble, and he knew it. "C-can't I just… go?"

He was pleading so much that I kind of felt sorry for him… "Fine. But… I still want to know."

Ravis gave me a final, sad look. "I… can't tell you. Ever."

X (Zuko POV)

I sighed. "NOW can we go rescue Uncle?" I asked Liet… Liet… Liet something. He had one of those names where you can't spell it or render it in any character, so you can't remember it at all. The Earthbenders had stopped, and were setting up camp.

He nodded. "You take this end. I'll-"

"I don't have time for this!" I rushed in, disregarding his plan. What good would it be against five people?

"HEY! YOU THERE!" one of the soldiers spotted me, but I blasted a fireball at him.

Liet-something was sneaking around in the back, and silently knocked out another soldier from behind with a well-aimed light blow to the back of the neck. Not my style, but effective.

TUM! A soldier Earthbent a wave of rubble and sand at me, but I dodged at the last minute. Finding an opening, I retaliated with a jet of fire. "Take that, you-"

THUM! The soldier buried Liet-something's feet in the ground and held a rock above his head threateningly. "Take one more step and this guy gets it!" threatened the soldier.

"Rgh," I grumbled. What could I do? He helped me track them; I couldn't just risk his life like that… even if I forgot his name. If I had my swords, I would have dropped them. I settled for raising my hands as high as I could.

He winked at me. Before I could even begin to try and interpret his gesture, he headbutted the soldier with the back of his head. The soldier crumpled, leaving the rock hang in the air- It'll fall on them! I ran and kicked it to the side before either of them could be crushed. "Ačiū," he thanked me, and dug around his feet to free himself. "Your uncle is in zat tent," he said, pointing to one of the left. "I'll go grab what I came for in the tent on the right, and I'll come right back."

"No," I said. "I won't leave you."

He smiled. "Thank you," he said, and we dashed into the supply tent. It was loaded with food, weapons, and for some reason, peppermint humbugs. Liet-something rustled around in a corner, until he pulled out a long, thin package swathed in some kind of coarse cloth. A rifle…? Wait, what was a rifle, anyway? [1] He held the bundle like it was his first-born child, and nodded towards the tent across from us. "Let's go."

Without any second thoughts, I dashed past the canvas flap and into the tent-

WHAM! A stone shot out at me, catching me in the stomach. "Ugh…" I groaned.

"Prince Zuko!" Uncle cried. He still shackled and chained, and almost naked.

"That's what you Fire Nation people get for invading our homeland," said a deep voice. Judging by his different uniform, he was probably the captain. He paused to lift more rocks, and-

FWAP! Liet… whatever his name was roundhouse-kicked the captain in the chest, effectively stopping him for several hours. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Sure… Liet… Liet…agh, I can't remember your full name!" I groaned.

He sighed. "It's Lietuva, but Liet is fine. My friend Feliks calls me that…"

"So, Zuko," said Uncle. "I see you've made a friend."

That caught me so off-guard that I almost fell over. "F-friend?!"

Uncle nodded. "A friend," he confirmed.

"A-ačiū," said Liet shyly. "B-but remember, there is vone more soldier-"

CRACK! The last Earthbender had crept up on Liet, and grabbed him in a headlock. The bundle in his hands clattered to the floor unceremoniously. Liet's hands gripped the soldier's forearm uselessly. "If you try anything funny," he said, "Then your friend gets it!" To emphasize his point, he roared, "And don't even think about flipping me! Both of our feet are stuck in the ground!"

He was right. A block of stone encased his and Liet's feet, preventing any of us from moving. "Now… put your hands up where I can see them!" he barked.

Liet gave me a wink. What was he-

"OW!" the soldier let go of Liet, and grabbed his own forearm. "H-hot!"

Liet took advantage of the soldier's moment of confusion, and- (was his arm on fire?)- elbowed him in the ribs. As he fell to the ground in pain, Liet snapped his fingers in his face, creating a spark that blinded him. "You vill be fine in a few hours," he reassured him. "But you von't be able to see. Let me give you some advice: alvays be avare of your surroundings, even if you sink you have von."

"You're a Firebender?!" I shouted. "And you didn't tell me!?"

Liet flinched, but regained his composure within seconds. "I… I am not from around here," he said.

"Of course not!" I retorted. "If you can Firebend, that mean that you're from-" Uncle stopped me.

He shook his head. "Zat is not vhat I mean. I am from… a place far from here. Zere is no Bending, and it is completely uninvolved vis your var. Somevone I knew sent me here by accident… and I found zat I could create fire." He held out a hand and lit it for emphasis. "Ze villagers vere kind to me at first, and even told me about Bending and ze var, but…" he shook his head. "I burned ze mayor's vig."

"His wig?" Uncle and I said in unison.

"Yes, his wig," he said. "Then they thought that I was a Fire Nation spy because of my ability to Firebend, and chased me out… they even called me a Commie."

"So that's why you were hiding from them," I rationalized. "The people of the Earth Kingdom would naturally look at Firebenders with suspicion."

Uncle looked at Liet suspiciously. "Hold out your hand, young man," he said. Liet complied. "Light your hand," said Uncle, and he did so. Uncle then placed a cup in his hand. "Your flame… It's not a flame used for fighting… it's perfect for brewing tea!"

Liet nodded, like he understood. "I don't think that fire can only destroy…" he said. "Fire can also warm… protect… cook… forge… not just burn."

"You seem to be a levelheaded young man," said Uncle. He didn't praise me like that… but it was probably true. "But your skill with fighting says otherwise."

Liet looked up. "Show me that package, young man," said Uncle in a low voice. Uncle wasn't usually like this… Liet complied, and unraveled the cloth. A sheathed sword lay on the rough cloth. I looked at it. The design was, well, nothing like I've ever seen. It was like the _jian_ sword, except it had a pointed end instead of rectangular. The hilt was also different in a way that I couldn't quite see. "My friend forged it, from steel and half ze knife I saved his life vith," said Liet solemnly. "Ze ozer half I used to make his sword."

He drew the blade. If I looked at it at a certain angle, it looked like it had an inscription on it… "It says, Jeśli to czytasz, Warszawa jest teraz twój kapitał."

"What does that mean?" asked Uncle. "In all my years of travelling, I have never seen or heard a language like that."

"In my friend's language, it says, 'If you are reading this Warsaw is now your capital'," translated Liet. "On the other side, it says 'Jeigu jūs skaitote šį, Varšuva dabar savo sostine'."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Ze same sing, except in my language. It is an inside joke," Liet explained.

"Are you a warrior?" I asked. "No ordinary person would carry a sword like that around."

Liet shook his head. "I vas vonce a varrior," he said, "but not anymore. I am a farmer, not a fighter."

"But you're wasting your talent!" I shouted. "With skill like that… you'd be great in the Fire Nation army!"

X (Sokka POV)

Ravis and I walked back to the village, where Katara, Aang, and Peter were climbing Appa. "You're late," said Katara. "We have to go right now!"

"What's going on?" I asked, scurrying up Appa's saddle.

"I'll explain on the way," said Aang. "Yip-yip!"

Appa rose into the air, and glided through the clouds. "I need to talk to Avatar Roku," Aang said, as if that explained anything.

"But how?" I asked. "He's _dead_… right?"

Aang pointed to the horizon. "There's an island way out in the ocean where I can talk to him."

"Why there?" asked Ravis. Funny… first time I heard him say anything to us without stuttering.

"There's a temple there in his honor," explained Aang. "But I can only talk to him on the solstice, which is-"

"Tomorrow," I said. "So… how did you find out about this?"

"I was in the Spirit World, when Avatar Roku's animal guide came to me and flew me to the island," said Aang. "Where were you, anyway? I mean, I thought I was in the Spirit World, but you guys should have been there, too." [2]

"Were you in this weird city where you couldn't touch anything?" I asked.

"No, the Spirit World was basically the same as the real world, except I couldn't Bend and no one but Peter could see me."

"Wait, you saw Aang?!" Katara yelled at Peter. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't want it to seem like I was trying to get you worked up," said Peter. "I didn't think you'd believe me. But Aang," he turned to him, "maybe you weren't entirely in the Spirit World. I mean, your soul might have left your body but stayed in the same dimension, or something."

"That would explain why I didn't see either of you," said Aang. "Oh, and before I forget, be prepared for anything."

"Why?" asked Katara.

"The island where Roku's temple is… it's in the Fire Nation."

X (the next day)

"According to the map, we'll be passing the border in a few minutes," I said. "It's almost dawn, so we should have enough time, given that it's the longest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere."

"Show them your new technique, Ravis!" Peter encouraged him.

"What new technique?" asked Katara.

"L-last night," Ravis stuttered, "I… I found a new way to use my Icebending."

FREEZE! Like Peter, I had no onomatopoeia for ice forming that quickly…

"Wh-whoa!" "That was pretty cool!" "Sokka…" "No pun intended." "Can you do that, Katara?" "Well, those Fire Nation jerks had better watch out!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Long thin package, rifle- In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Uncle Vernon bought a long thin package that turned out to be a gun. The peppermint humbugs were a reference to the same book, where, at the feast at the start of the term, there were, for some reason, peppermint humbugs.

[2] The Spirit World- according to the Wiki, Aang was in the Spirit World when HeiBai pulled him out of his body, but it's never explained where Sokka and the others go. I explain this by saying that Aang was _not_ entirely in the Spirit World.

Ping Guo, Xi Gua, and Li mean apple, watermelon, and pear respectively in Chinese.

An explanation of what happened in the Spirit World: Latvia's soul went into the Spirit World, too. But since he's a nation, his soul appeared as his land. That's the landscape Sokka and the others were in. The world was blank before he turned up with Sokka. Oh, and because his soul was different from a human's for several reasons. A) He's a nation. B) His soul is composed of both the land and the people. C) His citizens have their own souls, but also make up his soul. Since his citizens were not pulled into the Spirit World with him (nation personification is a one-way conduit in my canon), no one in the Spirit World could touch them. And since he's both the spirit of the land and the people, he wasn't enough 'spirit of the land' for the land to be touched, either. I actually got the idea of his soul appearing as it really is from the manga Buster Keel. The main character was transformed into a human (long story), but he regains his original appearance while his soul is stuck in a jar (another long story) (I mean, he doesn't actually regain his original form, but while his soul is in the jar, his soul appears how he should look).

Liet is the Firebender? Shocker! I originally planned for him to be an Earthbender, but then there would be no reason for Toph to be there if Lithuania could teach Aang.

Will Lithuania join Zuko? Will Aang get to the island safely with him on the other side? And what is Latvia's new technique?


	10. Chapter 10

The first part of this chapter with Zuko and Lithuania was originally slated for chapter 9, but I wanted to leave it at a cliffhanger.

Last chapter, I forgot to mention that while Sokka and the others were in Spirit Latvia, the voices were Latvia's citizens. Latvia was the one talking, but since he was stripped to the soul; his voice came out sounding like all of his citizens talking at once.

Zuko is OOC here, but otherwise the plot can't move on as well.

Chapter 10 (Zuko POV)

He shook his head at my offer, and began to tremble. "I… I'm not that strong without my friend, and… I don't want to take any sides!"

"With your help, we can win this war!" I pointed out.

He looked to one side. "I… don't want to take sides. It may sound selfish of me, but I …don't want to get involved in anything that doesn't concern me."

"That is selfish!" I roared. "The Fire Nation wants to…" I trailed off.

"What does it want?" Liet asked rhetorically. "To amass as much territory as possible? Is that what you want?"

I was silent. All I wanted was to become Crown Prince once again, but… what next? All I was doing was chasing the Avatar, but once I caught him, what would I do as ruler? Did I want the Fire Nation to rule over all of the other Elemental Countries?

"I do not believe in vaging var," Liet continued. "I only vant peace… I fight to defend those who I care about, not for any other reason." He started to sweat. "Except… zat is not quite true… On ze continent vere I am from, zere vas a var… my country vas stuck in ze middle and declared neutrality… but ve vere attacked by both sides… I had to vork and fight for ze von I vas annexed by…" He sweated more profusely. [1]

Was he trying to tell me not to let the Fire Nation take any more with his sob story? "That must have been horrible…" I said.

He nodded. "I don't want anyone else to endure what I have. This war has created a rift between the lands of Earth and Fire. No matter who wins, the loser will suffer the same fate as I did."

I stood up. "But there will be a winner to this war," I announced. "We will win it. I am the Prince of the Fire Nation, and I refuse to let my people go to ruin like that."

Liet was taken aback. "Ne… Tai nėra tai, ką aš reiškė…" he said in a language I couldn't understand. ('No, that's not what I meant' in Lithuanian). "But… I can't tell if I admire your resolve or if I think you are just being stubborn."

Uncle gave me a long, sad look. "So, why does your accent keep on changing?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

Liet blinked. "I can speak without an accent if you want," he said, his accent disappearing entirely. "It's just how you perceive me talking." [2]

"Wait, what?" I was confused.

"F-forget it!" he panicked, his accent reappearing instantly. Even as he was startled, I could tell that a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders when he stopped talking about war and peace. Yes, he was taken aback, but it felt like he was smiling somewhere.

I couldn't help myself. I laughed alongside him. Uncle smiled. "It had been a long time since you have laughed like that, Prince Zuko. Not since you have left to chase the Avatar."

"Ze 'Avatar?'" asked Liet. "He is ze hope of ze vorld, right? Vhy are you hunting him?"

Before I could stop myself, I let everything out. Liet listened to me well, shuddering when Father burned me and almost crying when he found out that I was exiled. At last, he spoke. "I… I didn't know…" he said, tears in his eyes. "I still don't want to join either side of this war, and I want to find my friends, but… I can't abandon you. Zuko… I can tell. I can see that you're a good person, but your hot head and your status and upbringing as a prince prevents you from seeing other people's suffering. And when you lash out blindly, your conscience dies, little by little. I don't want you to become a heartless tyrant, Zuko." [3]

So it's just because I'm the Fire Prince? "No, it is not because you are a prince," Liet said as if reading my mind. His gaze far off yet determined, as if seeing something that I couldn't see. "I vill never allow such a tragedy to happen again."

He turned to me, calm but with a fire in his eyes as fierce as a wolf. "Zuko," he began. "I will join you."

X (Latvia POV)

"That is an awesome way to use your Icebending!" said Sokka. "I mean, how did you figure it out?"

I waved a hand, and the ice dissipated. "Last night, when you were sleeping, I was looking at the knife Peter's brother gave me…"

_The others were in sleeping bags, slumbering away. _Why did England give me the knife? _ I thought to myself. Sealand is his younger brother, after all… but he has guns. Estonia is clever, Lithuania is levelheaded, Canada is invisible, and Prussia is strong. Which leaves me… Latvia, the small, weak one. But what good would a knife be here? Bending was the key driver in this world… I focused my Icebending power into my hand. So far, my power only came out when I was frightened or nervous. What good would that be when I had to fight back? If only I could make ice appear upon command…_

_I practiced and practiced, and within an hour, I could freeze the air with only a single thought. The ice always came instantly, so there was no need to train speed any further… but in combat, there can't be just one trick. This wasn't like swordfighting, where more techniques could be learned… sword? Metal conducts heat… and lack thereof. If I tried to use my ice power on the knife… I flicked the main blade open. FREEZE! It worked! In my hands was an ice saber._

"So, you took the knife and formed ice around it, making a sword made of ice with the knife as the core?" Aang tried to rationalize.

"And you did this all in one night!?" shouted Katara, shocked. I would bet my wool sweater that she was thinking; _I need to train more_. The same went for Sokka.

"Ravis is sort of a miracle worker," said Sealand. "You should see what he did when he rebuilt his house. You did it so quickly, too!"

"J-jā, I guess…" I said shyly. I couldn't actually believe how quickly I shifted from communist to more or less capitalist so quickly either. [4]

"You rebuilt your house?" asked Katara. "How did it get destroyed?"

The invasion flashed before my eyes… _"We have no choice to house Russian troops…" "They framed us! They're saying that we violated their terms! They're invading!" _[5]

"Ravis? RAVIS!" Katara splashed water all over me. "Are you okay?"

"J-ja…" I replied. "Just… just some bad memories."

"Well, you'd better watch out," interrupted Sealand. "There are a whole lot of ships below us, and they seem to be heavily armed."

Sokka peered over Appa's back. "You're right… how did you know?"

"Well, there's a lot of metal and I don't think they would carry so much if it didn't have weapons," said Sealand in a matter-of-fact way.

"No, how did you know there were ships without looking?" clarified Sokka.

Sealand gave him a strange look. "Can't you hear that? That… shinging noise."

The rest of us shook our heads. "I can't hear a thing," said Aang.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Sokka. "Try cleaning out your ears."

"No, wait," said Katara. "Can you sense metal?"

Sealand gave her a funny look. "You mean you can't?"

"Nope," she said composedly. "It probably has to do with your Metalbending."

"Huh," said Sealand. "That's why I'm the only one who can tell where Switzerland is when we're on opposite ends of a building. So many guns…"

"You're telling me," I said quietly. He needs those guns to maintain his neutrality, me and the other Baltics didn't have them, so we were invaded.

"Save it for later," said Sokka. "Right now, what we have to deal with is evasion. We can't fight back and maintain our speed at the same time." He pointed at Sealand. "Peter, you tell us where the ships are. Katara, Aang, make us some cloud cover. Ravis, you try and steer."

"Ja," I said. "Which way are we going?"

"That way," Aang pointed.

"Thanks," I said. This could be a long ride…

X (Zuko POV)

After forcing information out of the villagers, I left for the ship.

"You found out where the Avatar went?" asked the helmsman.

I nodded. "He's headed for the Crescent Island," I said.

Liet nodded, and fumbled an apologetic bow to the villagers. "Sorry for our intrusion," he said to the puzzled residents. I guess that the fact that he still wore his Earth Kingdom clothing messed with their heads…

"The Crescent Island is in the Fire Nation, is it not?" asked Uncle.

"It is," I said. "But we have to leave."

X

"They're blocking us!" shouted Liet. "It's a whole line of ships!"

"They still won't let me pass, is that it?" I asked the world. "Fine then. KEEP ON GOING! DON'T STOP!"

Liet looked at me, and then at the ships. "Ve vill crash if ve keep on going," he said.

"We can make it," I said angrily. But something wasn't right…

"Hey! The boats stopped!"

We floated past in silence. I caught the eye of one of the men on the boat. Commander Zhao…

"Who vas zat?" asked Liet after we passed the border.

"That was Commander Zhao," said Uncle. "A vicious, cutthroat brute that lacks any self-control."

I could almost hear Liet saying, "That is exactly the kind of person I do not wish for you to become."

I looked back. "Zhao will follow us. I'll take one of the smaller boats, while he tracks this one."

Liet looked at me. "I'm coming vith you. It might be dangerous."

X (Latvia POV)

Wow… the temple was… incredible. "No one's here," said Sokka. "Why?"

"It's a temple," said Sealand. "Maybe they had to leave for some reason. They might have forgotten about it, I mean, what's the strategic importance of a temple, anyway?"

They were silent. "I guess… it's a symbol?" I suggested.

"Besides that," he said dismissively. "How long do you think it is till sunset?"

Aang looked at the sun. "Not long. Let's hurry!"

We scampered up the steps, and passed through the gates. "W-where are we going from here?" I asked.

Aang looked up. "When I came here, Roku's dragon flew me up there."

I looked where he was looking. "Aang, unless you can move through stone, there's no way we can get up there!"

"Let's check the passageways," said Katara.

"Halt!" an old-ish voice shouted. "Are you the Avatar?"

Seven elderly men dressed in Fire Nation clothing entered. "Why yes," replied Aang.

"DIE!" I guess that you can see what happened next. A second later, I froze the entire entrance chamber, leaving just enough free for us to run into the next corridor.

"Go!" I shouted, and all five of us dashed into the nearest corridor. "That can only hold them for a short time!"

We kept on going for a while, until we reached a dead end. "Wait!" called one of the men. Sokka was about to confront him, but he sounded so desperate, I stopped him. "Do not attack!" he said. "I am a friend."

Sokka shook his head. "Firebenders aren't our friends," he said. I didn't agree, but I held my knife just in case.

"I apologize for my rude behavior earlier, Avatar," said the man, bowing low in a 'please forgive me' fashion. He stood up, and pressed a hidden switch in the wall, revealing a secret passageway. "Please, hurry! The other Fire Sages will be here soon!"

Having no choice but to come with him, we followed. "Why are you helping us?" asked Katara. "The other Fire Sages attacked us. Why did you-"

"They are loyal to the Fire Lord," said the Sage. "After the War began, the people of the Fire Nation diverted their loyalties to the Fire Lord instead of the Avatar. But I refuse to follow this twisted path."

His story… it's just like the crown and the church… a long time ago the church reigned supreme, but then the crown took over. It's not like I dislike these changes, but it's more or less the same. The church is the Avatar, and the crown is the Fire Lord. "Are you taking us to the shrine?" asked Aang.

He nodded. "It's just up this staircase."

He opened a trapdoor leading upwards, and revealed a gigantic room. "Whoa…" none of us could conceal our awe. It was incredible…

"Oh no!" shouted the Sage. "The doors are closed!"

"Wait…" said Sokka. "Are these doors opened with Firebending?"

He nodded. "But only an Avatar at his full strength can open these doors alone. Otherwise, it would take all five Fire Sages to open the doors."

I looked at Sealand. "How many grenades do you have?" I asked.

"Thirty, but I want to make them last," he said. "You're not thinking of-"

Without asking, I grabbed five of them, stuck them in the hollows, and pulled the pins. "DUCK!" I shouted. KABOOM!

Aang got the idea, and tried to open the door. "It's still shut!" he shouted.

Sokka hit himself. "And that was probably the strongest fire I've ever seen. How do you make those, anyway?"

Sealand spewed a list of chemical ingredients before Katara threw her hands and shouted, "I have an idea!" she pointed at the Sage. "You go get the other Sages. It looks as if Aang already used Firebending to enter, so the other Sages will have to open the doors!"

He nodded. "Hide!"

Aang hid behind the pillar closest to the door, while the rest of us ducked behind different ones. Before long, the Sages were here. "The Avatar has entered the chamber!" shouted our ally.

"Let's open the door and hope that it is not a trap!" FWOOSH! Fire sprouted from each of their fists, and they hurled it at the hollows. Creak… it opened.

I flicked my knife open, froze it into a saber, and slashed at the nearest Sage. He collapsed. Sokka and Katara had put theirs into a headlock, while Sealand used his Metalbending skills to tie the last on in chains. "Now's your chance, Aang!" called Katara.

"Right!" said Aang, and he dashed towards the door-

CRASH! Someone is armor hurled himself through the window and tackled Aang to the ground. "You're mine, Avatar!" he shouted. A teenager?! He couldn't have been older than sixteen… Aang ran though the doors anyway, which sealed shut behind him.

There was a quieter noise of glass shattering, and someone new came in, panting. "Was it really necessary for us to go in through the window just because we were lost, Zuko?"

That voice… "L-Lietuva?!"

He flinched. "L-Latvija!?"

Both of us had only one thing to say. "**WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE**?!" we shouted in Lithuanian and Latvian.

X (Zuko POV)

L-Liet knew that kid?! "W-wait, did I miss something?" I asked the world at large.

"Who are you?" asked the other kid that I didn't know.

"That's Zuko!" shouted Sokka. "He's the one that's been chasing Aang since the South Pole! By the way, what are they saying?"

"I don't know," he said. "They're speaking too quickly for me to understand."

Liet and the kid were still jabbering and gesturing wildly. "So… who's that?" asked Katara, pointing to Liet. "Why is someone from the Earth Kingdom with you? And how does he know Ravis?"

"That's Liet… or at least, I forgot his real name…" I said. "He just joined, but I still don't know why he's still wearing his usual outfit instead of the uniform…"

"It's Lietuva," said the kid. "I'm Peter and that's Ravis talking to Lietuva. And he normally doesn't usually dress like that. Here, take a look." He showed all of us an incredibly drawn painting. Liet was with Ravis, along with a yellow-haired man, each shuddering and dressed in some foreign clothing. "That's Eduard on the right," he said.

"Don't change the subject, why is he with you!?" shouted Sokka.

"I've never know Lithuania to pick sides in a war like that," said Peter.

"H-hey, he joined of his own free will!" I said. I was too embarrassed to say why, though. "Well, how do you know him!?" I retorted.

"Ravis is an old friend of his," said Peter. "And he's fifteen, not ten, just so you know."

I looked at Ravis, still wild with shock. "He's… a year younger than I am…"

"He had his spine crushed repeatedly by his ex-boss, so his growth's been stunted."

Ouch. "So… uh… I don't think we should fight when they're talking…" I said.

"Ditto."

"I don't think so, either."

"Anyone care for a lemon drop?" asked Peter, holding out a metal container.

"Sure," I said, and took one.

BOOM! "You thought you could fool me, Zuko?"

"Commander Zhao," I said bitingly.

"That was a clever ruse, with the- STOP TALKING!" he yelled at Liet and Ravis, who paid him no heed. He sighed. "Tie those traitors up," he ordered his soldiers, who obeyed. "And the Avatar's friends." Great. I was chained on the same pillar as the sage, while Peter, Sokka, and Katara were all on one.

As soon as a soldier laid a hand on Ravis, Liet thrust his sword at his face, blazing with red-hot flames. Another tried to grab Liet, but Ravis suddenly had a sword of his own in his hands. A second later, it was lodged in the soldier's shoulder blades, and he quickly withdrew it. Another tried to hurl fire, but Ravis made a quick gesture, and a transparent, sparkling shield burst into existence. Was that… ice? Liet bashed another soldier's head in with his foot.

WHISH! A knife whistled past me, and pegged a soldier in the chest. "You honestly thought that would work?" said Peter. A moment later, the chains restraining my movement clattered to the floor. How…?

I looked at Peter, who grabbed the chains… and reformed them… into… "YOU CAN METALBEND?!" I shouted.

"Yes," he said, and he raised his left arm. A metal contraption was mounted on it, with a bowstring… TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! He shot three thin metal needles too quickly for me to see, all of which pierced several bodies at once. "With a normal crossbow, it would have taken longer to wind it up, but I can form it already charged with Metalbending."

Whack! Sokka hit another over the head with his club, while Katara smacked another with water.

"You kids think that you can-" Zhao began, but I kicked him in the… groin.

"Couldn't resist," I said. "I'm a traitor, anyway."

"You…" WHACK! Liet hit him with the sheath of his sword. "Ve have to get out of here," he told me. "Zere are reinforcements outside, so even if you kidnap him, you vill be captured also."

He was right, I had to admit. I'd be executed, and Zhao would get all the glory. "Let's go." I jumped out the same window we came in. "TO THE BOAT!"

X (Latvia POV)

"**ARE YOU SERIOUS**?!" shouted Lithuania in Lithuanian. He sighed. "He's dragging me around, isn't he… just like Feliks, except he's not nearly as selfish and much, much more hotheaded."

"You're comparing him to Feliks?" Sealand sweatdropped.

"Ja," he said.

"H-he's nothing like him…" I said. "But if he forced you to scale the side of a building and jump through a window, I'd say he is dragging you around."

"Hey," said Sokka. "Right now, I'd like to know how and why you joined Zuko."

"E-eh? Didn't he explain everything?" I asked.

They shook their heads. "All I heard was you two yelling," said Katara.

"How should I know? This is the first time I heard you speak coherently," said Sokka.

"I can't understand you two talking over each other in two different languages," said Sealand. "**I hate to admit it, but only full nations have that level of translator**," he added in Lithuanian.

Lithuania looked out the window. "I'd better be going," he said. "I can't leave Zuko alone." He looked at all of us, Katara and Sokka in particular, and bowed low. "I'm so sorry for what happened. I swear, we'll meet again."

He gulped audibly, and said, "**Why does he always have to do this**?" in Lithuanian, and vaulted out.

Creak… The door! "Guys!" Aang burst into the room. "I have to tell you something!"

Katara looked at him, then me. "Aang goes first."

X

"So, we have a deadline," said Sokka. "You have to compress three elements into around nine months. That's pretty extreme."

Aang sighed. "Then… what happened to you guys?"

Katara looked bitterly away. "Ravis and Peter's friend joined Zuko. Looks like he's a Firebender, too. We're going to have to fight him later…"

"Wait," I said. "None of you could hear what we said, right?"

"I'm pretty sure you went into Estonian, German, Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and even Polish at some point," said Sealand.

"What's your friend's name, anyway?" asked Aang.

"Lietuva," I said. "Back there… when we were talking…"

FLASHBACK (TRANSLATED VERSION)

"_I… I joined Aang on his quest as the Avatar," I said. "What are you doing?"_

"_I joined Zuko," he said. "Hear me out, Latvja. He's not a bad person at heart. It's just that he's hotheaded, and he's blinded. I joined him to open his eyes to people."_

_I nodded. "You don't want another… Russia… but I don't want to fight you!"_

"_Me neither…" he said. "I don't even want to fight your friends, either. But…"_

"_It's unavoidable…" I said, tears in my eyes. "I don't want to fight you, but I don't want their world to be taken over, either!"_

"_I know…" he said depressedly. "But I can't abandon him. Someday… I may join you, along with Zuko."_

_I nodded. "But-"_

"_LOOK OUT!" He stabbed something next to my head, sword… on fire? _

"_You're a Firebender? I'm an Icebender!" I shouted, and froze my saber into existence. "Sealand's a Metalbender."_

X

"And that's what happened," I finished.

"He wants to change Zuko?" asked Katara. "I doubt that he can change a vicious-"

"Katara," said Aang quietly. "The monks taught me that people aren't inherently evil, just misguided. Lietuva's just trying to push Zuko on the right path."

"But why would he think that, anyway?" asked Sokka.

"He only targets us," said Sealand suddenly. "As long as someone's unrelated, he won't attack them. He probably met him when he wasn't angry."

"Lietuva is very insightful," I added. "Zuko might just be conflicted. I mean, Zuko did say that he was a traitor. And look at the ships the blockade had, and the one Zuko had. Totally different technology. And that guy who came in… he attacked Zuko even though they're both Fire Nation. Something must have happened, that might be why he's so angry all the time."

"But… what?" asked Sokka.

I had no reply.

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Lithuania's story- corresponds to the annexation of Lithuania by Russia.

[2] Lithuania and his accent- I noticed that in my canon, all nations (except mirconations like Sealand) speak perfectly all languages, except for English. That's because I get it off of Google Translate, and I can't add accents. But to rectify the fact that they can't speak perfect English, I say that it's because they actually _can_ speak it perfectly, but the listener automatically perceives it with an accent. If it's their native language, of course.

[3] Lithuania's reasons- He thinks that Zuko is good deep down, and he wants to salvage that good.

Originally, Liet would have left Zuko then and there, but a chat with my editor dissuaded that when (gender undisclosed) asked if he was the type to abandon a friend, to which I changed it.

[4] Latvia's house, rebuilding- No, seriously! Latvia switched from communist to capitalist very quickly, and had a prosperous economy until another crisis.

[5] Latvia's flashback- when Russia annexed Latvia, first they forced Latvia to sign a treaty allowing them to keep troops there, and then they framed the Latvian government for a violation (no idea what), and invaded and annexed.

When will Liet return? Will they be forced to fight? And who will be in port when Katara steals the Waterbending Scroll next episode?


	11. Chapter 11

Don'tDreamBeIt- Nope, Prussia's not going to be in this chapter at all. Thank you for your well-thought out reviews!

I repeat, there are no OCs in this fic. Unless I have to put in an extra for a gag. But no plot-changing OCs

Chapter 11 (Sokka POV)

"Sokka! What are we going to do!?" fretted Aang. "I have to master three more elements by next summer! That's six months!"

"Let's see, it took you 112 years to master Airbending," I said sarcastically. "Why wouldn't it take you six months to master the other three elements?"

"Thanks," said Aang sarcastically.

"You could get started on Waterbending," suggested Peter. "I mean, at least you have Katara here. And you could use some training too, Sokka."

"Eh?" I said, confused. "Why me?"

"I'm just being blunt here, but you're the only one besides Aang who really needs it," he said. "I mean, it's not just because you can't Bend. It's because you can't really fight, either."

"Hey!"

"P-Peter has a point…" stuttered Ravis. "I haven't seen a nonbender beat a Bender yet…"

"But I'm sure that there must be some way to beat a Bender without Bending!" said Peter cheerfully.

"Look! A lake!" Aang pointed.

"We can practice Waterbending there!" said Katara gleefully.

We landed next to the lake. Katara was showing Aang her Waterbending while Peter and Ravis took me to another end of the lake. "Your build seems inclined towards speed," said Peter. "But your main ability is your improvisation. You're clever, but you lack basic training."

I opened my mouth to say that Dad trained me, but then I realized that he didn't really do much besides show me his inventions. "Fine," I said. "What do you mean by training?"

"Mainly stuff like recovery and follow-ups," said Ravis. "Always remember, you can't defeat an opponent with only one blow. If he dodges, you're finished."

"Scary… hey, who trained you?" I asked.

Ravis shook fitfully, but Peter said, "My brother did. And he's pretty good."

"Your brother, eh?" I said. "What about you, Ravis?"

"I…I'm self taught," he said. "B-but d-don't think you can teach yourself! I learned on a battlefield… It's better to learn where you won't die."

I sighed. "Fine. Let's see this training of yours."

Peter left himself open. "Try to attack me. I'll show you what I mean."

I nodded, and rushed in for a swift, heavy strike. I swung my club hard-

Peter dodged to the left. I fell over from my overswing. "That's what I meant," he said as I got up. "You put too much stock in your first swing. You have to plan for a second and third move. What if your opponent dodges?"

The rest of Peter's training went more or less like that. I kept on falling face-first into the mud, while Peter and Ravis watched.

"All right, maybe that's…" I began, but a huge shadow fell over us. SPLASH!

"Sorry!" shouted Aang. "Katara was showing me this new Waterbending move, and the wave just washed all of our supplies away!"

I spat out a tiny fish. "Great… Didn't we pass a pier somewhere? They might have stuff."

X

"Three copper coins," said Katara. "That's all the money we have from King Bumi."

"H…I think that's all he could give us," said Ravis. "War can strain budgets like a sponge in a bowl of water."

"Spend it wisely," advised Katara.

"Look!" called Aang. "A completely unsuspicious boat with unsuspicious merchants!"

"For some reason, that reminds me of the dream I had last night," said Peter. "A cow was playing some sort of instrument…"

"Who cares?" I said, and we entered the merchant boat.

"Welcome!" said a man. "This is an unshady merchant's boat!"

"Why do you have a skull and crossbones flag in the corner?" asked Peter. "Are you pirates?"

The man grabbed Peter and whispered loudly, "We prefer the term 'High Risk Trader'."

Peter sighed. "Call yourselves what you will, we're still going to look around."

I agreed silently. There was a whole bunch of cool stuff here… Ooh, a monkey statue… Shiny…

"Is this… a Waterbending scroll?" Katara thought aloud.

"Let's see, it says Waterbending Scroll on the side, has the Water Tribe symbol on the wood core, and has pictures of people moving water around…" I said sarcastically. "Nope, it's a Firebending scroll."

"Sok~ka," said Katara. "Shut up."

"Fine."

"Yar, that be already sold," said a voice that sounded a lot like a pirate's. "Unless ye has two hundred gold coins."

Aang looked at the other four of us and said, "Don't worry; I've got this under control. Pirates love haggling."

"If you say so," said Ravis uncertainly.

Aang strode towards the captain confidently. "How's… one copper coin?"

"Are ye trying to be funny?"

"Two?"

"…Ye be an idiot."

"Three?"

"Are ye begging to be walk the plank?"

"All right, come off it," said Peter. "Let me handle this." He turned to the captain. "How about I give you this?"

"What that be?"

"It's a decorative paperweight," said Peter, holding a shiny metal object that he probably just made from Metalbending. "You can sell it for two hundred gold coins."

"GET OUT!" the captain grabbed all five of us by the scruffs of our necks and tossed us off the boat.

"Well, it's a possibility!" Peter called. "It may not be worth that much, but you can sell anything if you advertise it right!"

Katara cautiously looked around. "I think we should get out of-"

"YARRR!" screamed a pirate from the boat. "There they be! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!"

Ravis stood up, and slowly inhaled and exhaled. "In… out…" FREEZE! A large block of ice formed between us and them. "That should hold them for a while, but we've got to get out of here!"

We raced through the stalls of the pier, jumping over boxes and sliding under people. We shoved past crowds and clamored over roofs, even running into the Cabbage Merchant at some point. "MY CABBAGESSSS~~~!"

"Sorry!" Peter shouted back.

We kept on running, not daring to look back, until we caught sight of… "That's the edge of town!" I shouted. "If we can get though the underbrush, then we can get back to Appa!"

Aang was the first to go through, followed by Katara and Peter. Ravis beckoned me to go first, and I jumped through.

FREEZE~! A moment later, Ravis came through, thoroughly startled. "Th-let's not do ever do that again."

"Why would they chase us, anyway?" said Peter. "I mean, did they really want such a cheap replica of the Big Ben that much?"

"What's the-"

"Long story."

"K-Katara?" asked Ravis nervously. "Wh-what's that in your hand?"

"Katara… Why do you have that Waterbending scroll?" I asked.

X (Zuko POV)

"So, Uncle… we're delaying out lead on the Avatar just so we can get your White Lotus tile?" I said.

"That's… why?" asked Leit shyly. "Vhy vould you do zat, anyvay?"

"The Lotus tile is considered a small and minor piece," said Uncle. "But it is vital for my next move in Pai Sho!"

Liet sighed. I bet he was thinking, _as long as we're not killing anyone_…

I sighed too, and we drifted towards the port known as The (Totally Not) Seedy Merchant's Port. _Absolutely nothing suspicious about us_ was the motto of the town. Yeah right…

When we docked our boat, Uncle immediately hopped off and dragged Liet and I to go shopping. "The Lotus tile should be here somewhere…" he kept on saying.

After a while, I asked Uncle if I could go off on my own.

"You should calm down, nephew," said Uncle. "Enjoy life. I think there was a shop that sold these great egg custard pies somewhere. Go with Lietuva."

"Eh!?" said Liet.

"I will be okay on my own," said Uncle. "Go have fun with your friend."

Seeing as I couldn't exactly argue, I went and walked aimlessly with Liet. "How old are you, anyway?" I asked. "You don't seem to be much older than I am, but your battle instincts are incredible."

"I'm sev- nineteen," said Liet. [1] "But… I grew up trying to fend off attacks from this guy…" he began to sweat. "His name was Teutonic Knights. He used to pick fights with me all the time… And he grew up fighting to survive, tooth and nail… I felt like I was going to die…"

Ah. So that's the reason why Liet was so strong… he used to fight all the time. "What happened to this guy?" I asked. "Teutonic Knights?"

"You do not sink zat it is a strange name?" said Liet with his suddenly changing accent. When I shook my head he said, "He is still alive. To zis day, he still runs around picking fights…"

"Sounds like a nice guy," I said sarcastically. We found the store that sold the egg custard pies, and I paid for one. "By the way, remember that kid? Wasn't his name Peter or something? He called you something… it wasn't Liet… Lithuania?"

Liet was taken aback. "N-it's nothing… just a nickname…"

"Lithuania's pretty far off the mark," I said. "Compared to something like Liet… Liet…"

"Lietuva," Liet finished. He sighed. "I don't really get it either…"

That was strange… "And you called the other kid, Ravis, something like… Latvija?"

Again, Liet was taken aback. "Z-zat is also a nickname…"

I wasn't so sure… "ZUKO!" shouted Uncle. He and the soldiers were carrying all sorts of strange goods.

"You bought a Tsungi horn?" I said. "Really, a Tsungi horn."

"I thought it would be perfect for music night!" said Uncle.

"You have a music night?" asked Liet.

"Sure. We all gather around a bonfire and play music," said Uncle. "Zuko is one mean Tsungi horn player!"

"Uncle," I said, embarrassed. "H-hey, look! It's a merchant boat!"

"They might have a Lotus tile!" said Uncle, and he dragged us onboard. The people there were clearly pirates… the reptile-bird and the flag tipped me off.

"Yar, are ye seeking a bargain?" asked the captain.

"Yes," said Uncle. "What do you have?"

The seller showed us around, until he said, "We'd have more than this if it weren't for those Water tribe kids, that Earth kid, and that monk," bitterly.

Liet, Uncle and I all looked at one another. "Do you think…?"

"We should be looking for them," said the captain. "Get a tracking team together."

"We're looking for those people," I said. "We'll come with you."

The captain gave me a long, hard look. "Ye want to go with us pirates?" he sneered.

"Yes," I said defiantly.

The captain grinned. "Ye has spunk, kid. And we like spunk here." He turned to his seller. "Go get Baihua."

"Eh?!" said the pirate.

"Ye heard me," said the captain. "Go get her!"

"A-aye-aye, captain!" he dashed off belowdecks.

"Baihua's our best fighter," he told me. "But she's never enthusiastic about anything. Yer going to get along just fine…"

"Wait… I'm going with her?" I said.

"Alone," said the captain. "Yer not going with him," he told Liet. "Yer coming with the rest of us."

"B-but-" Liet stuttered, but he was cut off by a groan.

"Ugh…" a woman entered the room, hanging onto the walls. She was wearing glasses and a raggedy white kimono top with red pants (A/N **think rough miko**), and her yellow hair was braided in a single long plait. "I swear I'm never going to drink again."

I stared at her. "This is your best fighter?" I said. I was fine with a girl being the strongest, since I lived with Azula for thirteen years, but a hung over woman with glasses?

I turned to Liet to say how weak she looked, but he was shuddering in fear. "Ye will be coming with us," repeated the captain. "Are we clear?"

"Taip," he said without really listening.

"That was a yes," said Baihua from the other end of the cabin.

"Then it's settled," said the captain. "Ye two are going to run around the kids' camp, and get them from behind. If they try to run, you'll get them."

"Aye," said Baihua, not really paying attention.

"Is that clear?" the captain stressed.

"Cut off their escape route, that's all there is to it," said Baihua. "And go with this kid. I'm hung over, not stupid."

"It's not like you drink your tea with all this gross stuff," muttered the seller. "And you go and try to out-drink anyone who challenges even though you're the worst drunk we've ever seen."

The atmosphere changed slightly. "What did you say?" said Baihua, who somehow acquired a sword in the last ten seconds.

"I said-"

"That's enough," said the captain. "Mr. Oh, you're my second-in-command. Take care of the newbie." [2]

"Fine," said Oh disdainfully. "Baihua and kid, you're going through a detour in the forest. There should be a path marked with seven lines."

"Shall we go, then?" Baihua asked me. I nodded. "And stop sulking; it'll only make it all worse."

"Shut up," I said.

Baihua sighed. "That's what I meant by sulking. Bloody prat…"

We walked through the forest in sulky silence, until Baihua broke it. "You don't seem convinced that I can fight," she said. "Is it because I am a woman?"

"No," I said. "It's because you turned up hung over."

She smirked. "You're the first one to say something like that. The pirates just laughed at me until I broke Oh's leg."

"How?" I asked.

"With my bare hands," she replied. "But you're the only one I've met so far who hasn't given a thought about my gender affecting my skill."

"With a sister like mine, you'd be surprised," I said.

"Girls can be scary, can't they?" said Baihua.

I did a double take. "Why did you just say that as if you're not a girl?" I said.

"Because I'm actually a-"

"GRRAUR!" P-platypus-bear!

"Look out!" I shouted, and tried to light my flame-

SHING~! The next thing I knew, Baihua was crouched behind the platypus bear, sword drawn. The platypus-bear fell to the ground, sliced neatly in half. "That should feed the crew for a day or two," she said. She turned to me. "Let's hurry."

X (Latvia POV)

That night, Katara snuck out to practice with the scroll while she thought we were all sleeping. I snuck away after her, trying hard to be quiet. She was at the lakeside, but she didn't seem to be successful with her training. Her water was flowing and dropping irregularly. "Calm down," I said. She dropped her water.

"Ravis!? What are you doing here!?" Katara shouted, but I shushed her.

"You snuck off," I said. "Are you practicing?"

"Yeah," she said angrily. "Don't laugh at me!"

"I-I'm not," I said. "But… I think the reason why it's not working is because you're not calm. Water opposes fire, which is emotion and passion. You shouldn't be emotionless, but you're too angry for it to work."

Katara tried to use her move on me, but the water collapsed halfway through. "Why… Why can't I do it right!?"

I knelt close to her. "Take a deep breath," I said. "That's it… It'll work. You just have to unlock it."

"But… how?"

"You'll find a way."

Splash… Was that… "A boat!" I whispered to Katara urgently. "The pirates! They must have followed us!"

Katara tried to move the water to attack, but it collapsed halfway through. "Don't try a new move here!" I whispered. "It won't work right now. We're got to warn the others!"

Katara looked upset, but held in her feelings and nodded. We ran towards the camp, but then a pirate shouted, "There they are!"

Crap! I grabbed my knife and turned it into a sword, and sliced the air. A wave of freezing air flew towards them, and they were stunned for a moment. "Agh…"

CLAP! Someone grabbed Katara'a wrist. "Don't worry." Zuko! "I'll save you from the pirates."

SLAP! Another figure hit Zuko on the head. "That's going to get you bloody arrested," it said. A… woman? I took in all of her features, but I didn't recognize her… so why did the sight of her terrify me?

"Wha- Does it matter?!" shouted Zuko.

"Yes. It does."

"Argh… you're so annoying!" Zuko shouted, still holding on to Katara.

Katara headbutted Zuko, forcing him to let go of her, but the woman grabbed her by both her arms. "You're the one we want," she said. "Hand over the scroll and I won't have to turn you in."

"Wait," said Zuko, shoving in front of her. "We want to capture her and the Avatar."

FREEZE! I froze the air close to Zuko and the woman's bodies to startle them, and rushed in to grab Katara-

Thwack! The woman kneed me in the chest. It wasn't going to kill me, but it hurt like heck. "Just stay quiet for a little while," she whispered. "Latvia."

Wait… I knew her! Oh no… We were so dead… Everything went black.

X (Sokka POV)

My dream of a guy with a metal right arm and left leg faded with a sudden SNAP. I sprung up and examined my surroundings… Where was Katara? And Ravis? "Wake up," I tapped Aang and Peter. "Katara and Ravis aren't here."

"Katara's gone!?" Aang sat up.

Peter looked around. "I'm sure that Ravis can take care of himself, but where could they have gone?"

Thump… "Did you hear that?" I asked. "It sounded like a boat landing…"

Peter jolted up. "The pirates! They must have found us!"

"Too right," said a menacing voice. "Remember me? I'm Oh, the guy who was in the shop with you. And the second-in-command of the ship… if that girl Baihua doesn't interfere."

"Baihua?" I repeated. "You have a girl with you?"

"Why yes," said Oh, surprised. "Why not?"

"Well… I thought that all pirates were men," said Aang. "But then again, equality of the sexes and all that."

"There were some famous female pirates where I'm from," said Peter. "Like Anne Bonny and Mary Read. And Alvida-"

"None of us really thought that she could fight either," said Oh. "Until she broke my leg…"

"And that's why you're so mad at her," I concluded. "Then again, I'll be upset if someone broke my leg."

"Sokka, he's mad because she's threatening his position," said Peter.

"Hah, didn't think a kid like you would know so much about politics," said Oh.

"It's simple once you get right down to it. Someone always wants power for their group or themselves," said Peter. "That explains most of it. The rest is ideology."

Oh grinned. "But you didn't realize that I was just buying time! Your friends have already been captured!"

THWACK! I hit Oh hard on the head with my club. "No time to lose. Katara and Ravis are in danger!"

Oh managed to get back up somehow, but we were already running. "Katara must have been practicing her Bending," said Aang. "She must be near the lake!"

We sprinted through the woods, out feet barely touching the earth. Katara was in trouble! That scroll was bad news! "Katara!" I shouted upon reaching the shores.

"Sokka!" she shouted back. She was tied to a tree, her arms and legs restrained. Ravis was on the ground, out cold. "Zuko and the pirates are here! It's a trap!"

WHOOSH! As if on cue, fire blasted from one side. Zuko! "I have to admit, I respect you for running after your sister," he said. "But it all ends-"

TWANG! Peter slammed his gauntlet on Zuko's head. "Now!" Zuko shouted before he fainted.

A wave of pirates launched themselves at the three of us. Aang used his Airbending to knock them all off balance, and Peter Bent chains around them. Snap… I whipped my club around to hit the guy who tried to sneak up on me from behind.

I missed! "Too bad, k-" WHAM! I kicked him in the shin. "So that's what you meant by second strikes," I said.

"Yar," said the pirate captain. "Ye be good opponents, but you haven't seen out best. Baihua!"

I spun around to see the last people left: Zuko's uncle; who was in the background as usual, Liet; who was hiding behind a tree for some reason, and a shocked-looking woman with yellow hair and glasses.

"She won't fight," said a voice from the trees. That guy named Oh! "She's a traitor. She's been working for the Fire Nation this whole time!"

The woman glared at him. "That's bloody ridiculous. Why would I-"

"You were with Zuko in the forest!" said Oh. "You two were alone, right?"

"Yes," she admitted. "But you're the one who-"

"She's not with us!" shouted Zuko.

"Yer a traitor?" said the captain, drawing his sword.

"No," she said, shaken. "No, there's no bloody way-"

"If ye are really on our side," said the captain, "then kill these kids."

Baihua stopped. "You… you want me to kill them?"

The captain nodded.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. Katara! "Peter cut my ropes. Let's get out of here!" I nodded, and dragged the unconscious Ravis with us as we scurried into the bushes.

"I won't do it," said Baihua defiantly. I stopped to listen. "I'm not going to kill anyone."

Oh spat, and drew his knife blades. "It's a shame, you know. To kill the last descendant of the Air Nomads."

"Air Nomads?!" shouted Aang. She's an Air Nomad!?

Zuko couldn't believe it either. "…Baihua?"

Baihua looked to the side and muttered something.

"Eh?" said Oh. "Couldn't hear you. Imminent death starting to frighten you?"

THWACK! Baihua roundhouse-kicked Oh in the chest. "Bloody wanker," she muttered.

"Baihua," said the captain viciously. "You dared to attack your shipmate? So you really are a traitor…" He stomped his foot, and Bent a wave of rocks at her.

"Look out!" Aang got up and tried to Airbend with his staff-

WHOOSH! Baihua Airbent the rocks, sending them hurtling to the side. The next moment, she slammed the hilt of her sword into the pirate captain's head. He crumpled. "That should teach you," she muttered.

In the background, Liet picked up the unconscious Zuko and carried him over his shoulder with his uncle in tow. The four of us who were conscious looked at each other. "Let's run," said Katara. "Appa should be nearby."

We snuck along the path to our camping spot. As Katara predicted, Appa was still there. With a _whooshing_ noise, Aang jumped on top of Appa. Peter clambered up the saddle, and I passed Ravis's limp body up to him. As soon as I let go of him, a woman shouted, "Oi!"

Peter dropped Ravis on his head, and he woke up again. "U-uwaah! Wh-what are you doing here!?" Ravis shouted, startled.

I looked at where he was looking. It was that woman! Baihua! "Why are you following us?" I asked, boomerang in hand.

She sighed. "Look, _you_ should know," she looked straight at Peter.

Peter was oblivious. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen you before in my l-"

Baihua hurled her still-sheathed sword at Peter, and knocked him over. "Hey!" he shouted as he scrambled back up. "What was that for!?"

"Peter. Last night you dreamt of a cow, right?" she asked. What does that have to do with anything?

"Right," said Peter, surprised. "It was playing a flute or a recorder."

"No, it was some sort of reed instrument if you looked closely," she replied.

"Actually, it looked more like a horn or a tuba… metal, not wood."

"Don't be ridiculous, it was definitely not shiny at all."

"Wait a minute … we both had the same dream last night," said Peter. "And it was of a cow playing a musical instrument… does that mean that we're the long lost heirs of a kingdom with a name that is a pun on a popular kind of sweet?" [3]

Baihua slapped herself. "You've been reading too much Terry Pratchet, Peter."

Recognition dawned upon Peter's face. "Who are you, anyway!?" shouted Katara. "You were with the pirates! You hit Ravis in the chest! What gives you the right to-"

"How could I have known that they wanted to bloody kidnap you!?" shouted Baihua. "I came after you to take back the scroll, nothing more and nothing less."

Katara tossed the scroll as Baihua. "If you want it, take it. Take it and go!"

Baihua caught it, but didn't leave. "By the way, you forgot this," she said, and tossed a blue necklace at Katara.

"My mother's necklace!" she shouted, and tied the ribbon around her neck.

"I think you did the right thing, choosing your friends over that, no matter how much you value it," said Baihua.

Katara shot her a nasty look. "But don't think I forgive you for that. You have the scroll now, go!"

"As a matter of fact, I'm not here for the scroll anymore. Right, Peter, Ravis?"

Peter flung Baihua's sword at her with astonishing speed. It hit her right on the head with a loud CLONG! "What the bloody hell was that for?!" she shouted indignantly.

Peter smiled. "It's because you're my bloody brother. Isn't that right- Jerk-Arthur?"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Liet saying "I'm sev-Nineteen."- Lithuania is actually more than seven hundred years old. He starts his sentence with his real age, but he changes to his human age halfway through.

[2] Mr. Oh- Yes, the seller's name really is Oh. But since his name would have come out awkward when his name is the first word in a sentence, I call him Mr. Oh.

[3] The cow, the instruments, and the kingdom- all a reference to the book Pyramids by Terry Pratchet. In that book, in a kingdom with a name pun that is lost on people who do not know what a Jelly Baby is, a dream of a cow playing any kind of musical instrument means that they're the heirs to the throne.

In Chinese, Baihua can mean 'white flower'.

Sealand and England share a subconscious, so they get the same dreams. Cool, but creepy.

Like I said, no OCs.

Why is Iggy a girl? Did the same thing happen to Prussia? And when will Sokka finally be trained properly?


	12. Chapter 12

To DontDreamBeIt: You're welcome! Actually, the reason why Lithuania refers to other nations by their real names in their language is because… first, the reason why he introduced himself as Lietuva instead of Toris (his human name) is because… you'll find out later. Latvija is both Latvian and Lithuanian for Latvia. Lithuania didn't get the memo that they're using human names (plus, he was surprised by the fact that Latvia was there at all), so he called Latvia Latvija. As for calling Prussia Teutonic Knights instead of Gilbert, since he was explaining his past, I tried to be more specific by calling him what he was called then instead his 'vague-about-when-it-was' human name.

I'm sorry, but Poland will not appear. I like him, but I don't want too many characters here. But all characters that were in the room (Estonia, Prussia, and Canada) will appear for sure.

Apparently, the White Lotus society was a secret society in China that tried to get the Mongols out. Cool, eh?

Fem!England's hair is braided instead of in ponytails because I thought it looked better, and it wasn't as obvious that she was England if her design was slightly different.

Chapter 12 (Zuko POV)

I woke up on the boat with only vague memories of what happened. Peter hit me on the head with his metal arm, and… Baihua was an Air Nomad? That was all I could remember.

"…It vas in your sleeve ze whole time?" said Liet. "Your Vhite Lotus tile?"

"Yes," said Uncle. "By the way, did you know that girl back then? You looked terrified… is she your ex-girlfriend?"

Liet toppled over, and said something unintelligible. "Sh-she's… she is not my…" he took a few deep breaths. "If my intuition is correct, she is… she's… male."

"What?" I sat up. "You're telling me that Baihua is… a guy?"

"Taip," said Liet. "But ze reason vhy is because I know him. He's… his name is actually Arthur, but I sink he changed it to Baihua so zat he could fit in better."

"How do you know him?" asked Uncle.

"He's… he's just someone I know," said Liet uncertainly. "But he's… not someone you would want as your enemy…"

"I saw how she killed that platypus-bear," I said. "Wait, should we call h- Arthur 'him' or 'her' now?"

Liet shrugged, but still shivered. "Arsuer has always been ill-tempered and tough, and my instincts always tell me to vatch out."

"But he's with the pirates, right?" I asked. "There's no way that we'd be enemies now, right?"

Liet shook his head. "I think he would have joined with the Avatar and his friends. You see… Arthur is Peter's older brother."

Uncle sneezed- and a scroll fell out of his sleeve. Where did I see that before- "Uncle!" I shouted. "That scroll was on the pirate ship! You stole it!?"

Uncle put his finger to his mouth. "Shh! I thought that they wouldn't miss it…"

"Uncle! The reason why they chased after Katara was because she stole a scroll from them!" I said exasperatedly. "Now they'll hunt us down until… I don't know, to the ends of the Earth! For all I know, they might join with Commander Zhao and try to assassinate us with blasting jelly…"

Uncle laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Zuko. Why would they do that? Next you'll be saying that they`'re going to work as actors for a play starring the Avatar."

I sighed. "You never know… But now, it doesn't matter if he's with the Avatar or the pirates. Arthur's coming after us."

X (Latvia POV)

I watched as the idea of a girl being Sealand's brother sunk into the trio's minds. "B-brother!?" shouted Sokka. "B-but you-you're… a g-g-"

"A girl?" said England. He sighed. "No, I'm actually male, but… I turned into a girl when we crossed dimensions."

"THERE THEY ARE!" shouted Oh, the pirates following him like a pack of dogs. "Get them!"

Aang knocked them backwards with a blast of air, and shouted, "Get on!" We scampered onto Appa, England in tow, and Aang yelled, "Yip-yip!" We rose into the air, much to the surprise of the pirates.

"Was it the candle?" asked Sealand after we were a safe distance away from the pirates.

England sighed. "Yes. It was supposed also have the effect of curling your nose hairs into ringlets, but it looks like it was nullified somehow. Not that that's a bad thing…" [1]

Sealand shifted awkwardly. Oh, right… it was partially his fault that we were in this situation to begin with… "I'm not mad at you for getting us here," said England, as if he read Sealand's mind. THWACK! He slapped Sealand in the face. "But how the bloody hell could you not recognize me!? I'm your bloody brother, for crying out loud!"

"C-come on!" said Sealand. "I've known you as a guy for my entire life! Not even Ravis could… wait; did jerk-Arthur ever turn himself into a girl before?"

I shuddered, but nodded. "He tried to curse mister I-Ivan, but it backfired since he's immune to black magic… So he was stuck as a girl for weeks… And so were the rest of us…"

I saw Sokka shudder. Katara rounded on him, saying, "It's not that bad, being a girl!"

"Trust me, it's hard getting used to the bathrooms," said England. "It's not that bad sitting down, but you always have to remember to go into the women's room."

"Wait… if it was the candle's fault, then would Gilbert be…?" said Sealand.

"Probably," replied England. "I can't image how he would react. I mean, he was born and raised with only guys… It was bad enough when it turned out that he found that Elizabeta was a girl because he touched her…" he indicated to his chest area.

"Hold on, should we consider you a guy or a girl from now on?" asked Aang. "For when you're not here, should we call you 'he' or 'she'? And should we call you Baihua or Arthur?"

"Since I'm still a man on the inside, just keep calling me by male pronouns. And Arthur is fine, I only went by that name so that I didn't have to answer awkward questions," said England. "When the pirates asked me my name, I didn't want to go by a man's name, so I came up with a random one on the spot. Honestly, I'm quite sick of being called a flower."

"I thought your name was jerk-Arthur," said Katara.

England glared at Sealand. "What?" Sealand said in reply. "That's what I always call you."

"_All right_," said Sokka. "Enough with the gender-swaps. So you're not an Air Nomad. But how can you Airbend?"

"Scratch that, how did you find out?" asked Sealand. "I found my Metalbending on an oil rig, and Ravis found his Icebending by pure chance." To emphasize his point, he turned his gauntlet into a crossbow again. He looked at me expectantly for a few moments, and I realized that he wanted me to Bend. I hastily formed an ice block from out of nowhere.

"It's not Airbending," said England. "It's Air _pressure_ Bending."

"What's the difference?" asked Sealand.

"What's air pressure?" asked Aang.

Sealand opened his mouth to talk, but for once the stream of trivia ran dry. "You'd better explain this one, Ravis."

"Eh!?" I said. I sighed. "Fine. Air surrounds us all, and changes in pressure create wind and movement."

"But what do you mean by pressure?" asked Sokka.

I looked at Peter, who was just as lost as I was. How does one explain the concept of pressure? "Never mind," said England. "The only real difference is that I can make it rain."

"How?" asked Aang. "That's cool!"

"When air pressure is lower in a widespread area, rain is more likely to form," said Sealand.

Drip… drip… clouds swirled into a low pressure front, and it began to rain. I looked at England. "D-did you do that?"

He nodded. "Now I'd like to see your Bending."

Sokka backed away. "I can't Bend, so you guys go ahead."

Katara moved through the stances shown in the Waterbending scroll, and this time the water obeyed her commands. It lashed out exactly where she directed it. "I did it!" she said. "I finally mastered the Water Whip!"

Aang made an Air Scooter, and flew around like a hyperactive hummingbird on steroids. Thwak! He crashed into Sealand. "Ow…" he groaned. "I feel like I just crashed into a metal pole… oh, it's you Peter."

Sealand didn't fall over, since he was made of metal. "Eh? S-sorry Aang!" he said. "Can you go, Ravis?"

"Eh?!" I said, but complied without any arguing. I made my ice saber from the knife, and sliced the air. A wave of concentrated frozen air formed where I cut.

"My turn now~!" Sealand turned his gauntlet into a giant sword. He then turned a knife into a bell and back into a knife.

England looked at him critically, and bashed him on the head with a book. "You really haven't figured out what you can do with your Metalbending, can you?"

"What was that for, you bloody wanker!?" shouted Sealand.

"What did you call me, you bloody git?!" England shouted back.

They went on arguing, shouting a dozen more colorful curses and flashing at least twenty different weapons and kitchen implements. "Yep, they're definitely brothers," said Sokka. "Not even Katara and I argue like that."

"Well, just read the bloody book!" shouted England. He calmed down. "You'll see what I mean."

Aang looked at England strangely. "Wait… do you have anywhere to go?" he asked. "The pirates kicked you out, didn't they?"

England reluctantly nodded. "Do you mind if I come with you? We need to find the others."

"Sure!" said Aang. "The more, the merrier, right?"

"Thanks," he said.

"What's that?" Sokka asked Sealand. "That's a book… isn't it?"

"It's a geology textbook," said Sealand. "Want to see?"

Sokka shook his head. "I can't read those characters," he said.

"Oh. Right," said Sealand, embarrassed. It was in English…

"What are those boxes?" Sokka pointed to the back of the book, the part printed straight onto the inside cover.

"That's the Periodic Table," said Sealand. "It's a table of all the elements."

"Where's water?" asked Katara, interested.

"W-water isn't considered an element in our world," I said. "It's a combination of the elements oxygen and hydrogen. Fire is a reaction, so it's not on there, either. Air and earth are made up of too many different elements to really say, and-"

"All right," said Sokka. "Forget she asked. So each box is a different element?"

"Yep!" said Sealand. "Cool, isn't it?"

"Why are they different colors?" he asked.

"The letters are color depending on the state of matter it is at room temperature," said Sealand. "Iron is solid, oxygen is a gas, and bromine is a liquid."

"What do you mean by room temperature?" asked Aang. "It depends on the room, doesn't it?"

"I really don't know."

"What about the colors of the boxes?" asked Sokka.

"Classified as nonmetals, metalloids, and…" he broke off. "Bloody hell, I've got it!"

"Mind telling us?" asked Katara.

"No, I have to test it out first," said Sealand. "I'll check it out when we land."

X

We landed in a clearing later that day, and set up camp. England was surprisingly good at tent-fixing, and he didn't seem to interfere with the rest of us like I thought he would. Since he was the oldest, I thought that he would restrain Aang and the others' fun, but he just let them be.

"I'll cook," he volunteered, but Peter told him not to. "You'll kill us all if you do," he joked.

"My cooking's not that bad, you bloody-"

"It is," I said, and shuddered from my own foolishness. "R-remember when Gilbert ate your food? He passed out, and we all thought he was dead…"

England turned as red as the stripes on his flag. "Wh- I swore that I would get better at it!"

"But you haven't," said Sealand.

"Can _you_ cook?" England retorted.

"No," Sealand admitted. "But it's an improvement on you!"

The kept on arguing until Sokka said, "Hold it. Katara will cook; you two go ahead and cool your heads. Take a bath or something."

"Why am I the one cooking!?" shouted Katara.

"Because you're the best at it."

"I'll help," I said shyly. "I can make sure that it's edible…"

Dinner was lychee nuts, spinach, and a lot of sour cream. Like Lithuania, I ate a lot of sour cream and had an almost limitless supply of it in my bag. The others were kind of surprised at the taste, but they ate it after I confirmed that there was no meat in it. "You eat this every day?" said Sokka.

"When I'm lucky," I said ambiguously. "Sometimes I don't eat potatoes with it. And it's all your brother's fault…" I said this to England and Sealand. [2]

England nodded with fervor. "That bloody wanker…"

"But he's your brother, isn't he?" said Katara. "I'm guessing you're not talking about Peter."

"No, I'm talking about Alfred," said England. "He's Matthew's twin brother."

"How many siblings do you have, anyway?" asked Aang. "I never had any… back in the Air Temples, we all lived as if we were brothers, but we never knew if any of us were related or not."

"I have two older brothers," began England, "and… there's you; Peter, and the twins… and I can't forget the other twins… seven." (A/N **Ireland and North Ireland are brothers in my canon**)

"Seven!?" Sokka and Katara shouted in unison.

"I wish I had siblings," I said. "I don't have any family."

"What about Feliks and Liet and Eduard?" asked Sealand. "You live with them, don't you? Aren't they like brothers to you?"

"N-not really," I said.

"You used to live with Liet?" asked Katara. "But he went with Zuko, didn't he?"

"He did?" said England. "I saw him, but why did he go?"

We looked at each other. "Let's start from the top," said Sealand.

X

The next day, Sokka had an announcement to make. "I had a dream that Fire Nation soldiers were camping nearby, so we must not fly on Appa today!"

"And why should we base our course off of a dream?" asked Katara.

"_Because_, it might come true!" shouted Sokka. "My instincts are telling me that!"

"Sure," said Katara, not really convinced. "What are we going to do, walk?"

"What's wrong with walking?" said Aang jovially. "Let's walk for a change, it might be fun!"

It wasn't. At least, not for Aang. "Man, this sucks," complained Aang. "How do people get around without a magical flying bison?"

"They walk," snapped England. "Stop griping."

"Come on," whined Aang. "Aren't you guys tried?"

"Not really," said Sealand. He was the type that never ran out of energy, even for things that he didn't want to do.

"What about you three?" asked Aang.

"I'm fine," said Sokka said firmly.

"Good, because it's your fault that we're doing this," said Katara.

"Well, at least Arthur agrees with me!" said Sokka.

"We'd make much better time if we were flying, through," said England.

"W- You're not complaining, Ravis!" Sokka turned to me. "Come on, man, take my side!"

"I… I don't think it's that bad walking, but I agree with Arthur…" I said.

Sokka hit himself. "But at least, we're safe from the Fire Nation as long as we keep walking. And that's what's important."

He waved a hand through the bushes to emphasize his point. "See? No Firebenders-"

WHOOSH! A jet of flame blasted from the other side, singeing Sokka's arm. "Ahh!" he screamed. "Okay, I stand corrected," he admitted.

"GET THEM!" shouted a loud voice. A Fire Nation camp! We walked right into one!

"Bloody-" England and Sealand said in unison, and they both kicked the soldier in the head at the exact same time. "That was my line!" shouted Sealand.

"Well, it was my line first!" retorted England. Again, another soldier tried to attack them from behind, but they both punched him without even looking.

"Quit bickering, and fight!" shouted Katara, who used her Water Whip against our attackers. I froze my saber into existence, and stabbed a soldier before he could do anything. Aang knocked at least six of them off their feet, slamming them into each other and leaving them groaning on the ground. Sokka bashed one soldier with his club, and threw another judo-style over his shoulder. "Look out!" Katara was about to be hit by-

Twang! The whistle of an arrow sung straight and clear, and the one trying to attack her fell. An arrow? WHAM! A young man burst through the treetops, and kicked a soldier from above. Two others tried to attack him, but he fended them off with hook-swords.

"LOOK OUT BELOOOOWWWW!" screamed a kid from the trees, and he jumped on a soldier. More kids arrived, with similarly chaotic yet effective tactics. The only two people I could see who were actually using conventional tactics were the kid with the swords and the kid with the bow and arrows.

With their help, the squadron was quickly wiped out. The kid with the swords, presumably the leader, came up to Katara and said, "Hey. My name's Jet, and these are my freedom fighters."

"H-hi," said Katara, flustered.

"He's hitting on you," Sealand whispered, and was quickly silenced by England.

Jet turned to his followers. "Let's go, guys! Grab everything we need and we're moving back to the base!" he turned to us. "Thanks for that."

"Th-thanks for what?" I stuttered. This guy gave me a bad feeling…

"For coming in," he said. "We've been sitting up there all morning, waiting to ambush them. And then you guys stepped in."

England gave him a critical look. "You mean you were up there the whole time, waiting for something to pass by?" he asked. "That doesn't seem like a very sound strategy."

"Come one, give the guy a break," said Katara. "After all, he and his friends did just save our lives."

"We had it under control!" Sokka protested. "You- You just butted in!"

"Yeah right," said Katara.

"Jet! We've got some Blasting Jelly!" shouted one of the freedom fighters.

"Great!" he shouted. "Let's take it back to our secret hideout."

"You've got a secret hideout?" asked Aang, his interest piqued.

Jet smiled. "Yeah. Wanna come?"

"Sure!" said Aang.

Jet led us to a spot in the forest almost undistinguishable with any other part. Ropes were suspended from the trees, presumably for climbing. "Your secret base is a treehouse?" asked Sealand.

"Not just any treehouse," smirked Jet. "Hang on tight to these ropes, and give them a tug."

I gingerly pulled on one- TWANG! I shot straight up through the trees until the rope ran out. Out of sheer terror, I let go, and landed on a solid wooden platform. Slightly jaded from the flight, I scanned my surroundings- and opened my mouth in awe. An entire village was built on top of the branches of the giant trees, with ziplines and rope bridges everywhere to get around. I wish I could make something like this back home…

"This place is awesome!" shouted Aang, who was flying around on ziplines like there was no tomorrow.

"It's not just cool, it's safe from the Fire Nation," said Jet. "They'd never look here."

"Don't you get some problems when there's no leaf cover in winter?" asked England.

"We manage," said Jet without really saying anything.

"You live here?" asked Katara. "Isn't there a village somewhere?"

Jet gave her what he thought was a sad look, but to me it was angry. "The Fire Nation occupied the nearest village a few years back. We're trying to mess with them as much as possible, cutting off their supply lines and attacking whenever we can." Bitterness creased his face. "Everyone here is a victim of the Fire Nation's conquest. My parents… they were killed when the Fire Nation attacked."

Katara stopped beside him. "I know how you feel," she said empathetically. "My mother vanished during a raid in the South Pole."

They stood there in empathetic silence. I could now understand why Jet was so aggressive. Every day in the Soviet Union, I felt the feelings of my people: especially the pain. I never lost family before myself, but I had a keen inkling.

"Hey, catch me if you can!" Aang taunted from the ziplines.

Someone bumped me from behind. A tingling sensation went through my body, and I suddenly realized how far from the ground we were… and then the branch supporting me vanished. I fell off the branch! "YAAAAAA!"

The last thing I heard was a faint voice. My… name? Someone was screaming my name… "LATVIAAAAAAAA!"

X

A warm hand touched my arm, reviving me from my coma. "**Are you okay**?" asked a familiar voice in a language I knew too well.

"Igaunija?" I asked; opening my eyes just enough to see blurred shapes. I was barely able to see, but I was sure that Estonia nodded at the sound of his Latvian name. "**Wh-where were you**?!" I tried to sit up, but pain wracked through my body. "Ugh…"

"**C-calm down**!" he said. "**I was walking in the forest, and you just dropped down from above! I should be the one asking what happened to you**!"

"J-ja…" I said, and explained everything, from England's gender change to my suspicion about Jet. By the time I finished, my rapid healing process had restored all my otherwise-fatal injuries. All nations had an accelerated healing speed when we were hurt by anything besides wounds inflicted by another nation or on our land, but the speed depended on the severity of the injury. The common cuts and scrapes healed only slightly faster than a humans', while a broken bone recovered in only two weeks. Fatal injuries healed completely in an hour or two. Additionally, it's impossible to sever any large part of our bodies straight off, like our heads… at least, that was the theory. I heard that someone once tried to cut Romano's finger off, but he was too scared to talk about it later. He still had all his body parts, but…

With the rest of my body, my sight was restored. Estonia and I were in a tiny wooden hut, with one glassless window and a straw bed. Estonia was wearing what I thought were the best clothes out of all of us: a green martial arts shirt, the kind with buttons in a straight line at the chest and strings attaching them together, each of them parallel to the ground; and actual pants. Sealand had to wear his regular khakis with his clothes, and England and Lithuania wore samurai-like divided hakama. I wore a copy of Sokka's clothing, which meant I had to wear what was kind of like a cheongsam-like skirt over tights. Estonia owned what I could call pants without adding any other name to it. "What happened to you?" I asked. "Your clothes are the nicest out of all of us, so why are we in such a small hut?"

"Ah, well…" Estonia began awkwardly. "I landed in the forest outside of here, and the villagers took me in. I helped them out with the calculations for the dam they were building, so they gave me clothes and a place to stay. But because they only have a limited amount of houses around here, I ended up with the only one that they weren't using… but they gave me clean clothes and food, to make up for it…"

Someone knocked on the door. "Eduard?" an elderly man entered the hut. He was wearing Fire Nation clothing… was he Fire Nation? "I'm going out to pick mushrooms in the forest. Can you accompany this old man? I heard that there were some robbers in the forest, so I wanted to have some protection."

"Sure, but…" Eduard began doubtfully. "Where's everyone else?"

"Out hunting. You're the only young man left here."

Estonia stood up up. "W-wait!" I cried. "It's dangerous out there! I'm sure that _he'll_ attack you if I'm not there…"

Estonia smiled rather shakily. "**That would only prove that your instincts were right**," he said in Estonian. "**If he attacks us with no real reason, then that means that he really is a thug**."

"**B-but you'll get hurt**…" I said lamely. As soon as those words left my mouth, I tried to sit up. Pain shot through every crevice of my body, shattering any illusion that I could move.

"L-lie down!" shouted Estonia. "You broke both of your legs in that fall!"

I collapsed, but I heaved myself into a position where I could talk to Estonia face to face. Broken bones were nothing compared to the sheer agony of the wars I've been through. "Igaunija," I began. "**When you come back… Can you do me a favor**?"

X (Sokka POV)

Ravis's fall hit everyone hard. The feast that was planned for the night was cancelled. Katara kept on crying, while Peter and Arthur tried to convince themselves that he was alive. Aang lost his enthusiastic spirit entirely, barely nibbling at his favorite custard pies. Jet suspected that there was a traitor in our midst, but didn't have the heart to go through with an inquisition. Peter begged for a search party, pointing out that no one found his body. "He has to be alive!" he shouted.

Jet looked at him sadly. "No one could have survived a fall from that height. Besides, we don't have enough people. We still have to patrol the borders, and-"

Peter slammed his gauntlet right into his face, and ran off cursing.

Jet turned to me. "Sokka. I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend, but… do you mind coming with us on border patrol? We could really use the extra help."

"Sure," I said noncommittally.

"All right then," Jet said. "We'll get along just fine…"

X

_I should have spotted that smirk_, I thought as we sat in the trees along a beaten forest path. Jet and I were squatting in another giant oak, while Pipsqueak and Smellerbee were further along in an elm. I thrust my knife into the tree, and listened to the vibrations. "Two people are coming," I whispered to Jet. He nodded, and made bird-whistle signals to Smellerbee and Pipsqueak.

A moment later, I saw them- an old man in Fire Nation red clothing and a younger man wearing green. The younger was wearing glasses, which was definitely a sign of harmlessness. "False alarm," I whispered to Jet. "It's just an old man and his grands-"

Jet leapt down from his tree, stopping both of them in their tracks. The old man stopped completely, but his grandson held his hands up as if to say, 'I'm sorry'. "C-come on…" he said nervously. "We don't want any trouble… can we go now? Eheheheh…" he faked a smiled and laughed nervously.

Jet slapped him across the face with his hook-swords. "Anyone who defends the Fire Nation is looking for trouble in my book," he spat, and advanced on the old man.

"N-no, wait!" shouted the old man. "P-please! H-hp-have mer-merc-"

"Mercy?" spat Jet. "Why would I show mercy to a piece of Fire Nation scum like you?" He poised to strike-

I tackled him to the ground. "What do you think you're doing, Sokka?!" he shouted.

"What do you think _you're_ doing!?" I retorted. "You were going to hit a defenseless old man! What right do you have to attack an old man and his grandson on a walk in the woods!?"

"H-he's right!" stuttered the younger man. "W-we were just picking mushrooms!" As if to prove his point, he lifted up a basket full of mushrooms.

Jet grabbed the basket and thrust his hand into it. "What's this? A sickle!" he shouted, producing a small farming implement.

"That's for farming!" protested the grandson. "I'm a farmer!"

"You're a soldier in disguise, aren't you!?" Jet shouted.

"N-no!" he shouted desperately. That way he was shaking… where did I see that before?

"Cool it!" I yelled at Jet, a sudden impulse hitting me. This guy reminded me of Ravis for some reason… [3]. "If he says he's a farmer, who are we to deny it!? Let them go!"

"No!" Jet shouted. "Doesn't anything penetrate that thick skull of yours?! They're Fire Nation, even if he's dressed Earth Kingdom! The Fire Nation killed your mother!"

"That doesn't justify attacking an old man!" I shouted. "Or any other bystander," I added for his grandson.

"What's going on?" asked Smellerbee, who dropped down from the trees. "Why are you slowing us down, Sokka!?"

WHISH! A chain whipped around all of our legs and pulled, tripping all of us. "Ongi, ma kaon siit!" the younger man shouted, lifted his grandfather piggyback-style, and ran. (**That's it, I'm getting out of here**!)

Jet recovered and tried to run after him, but I threw my boomerang directly into his path. "You're letting him get away!" Jet glared at me. I didn't grace that with a reply. "Fine," said Jet. "We're heading home."

As soon as we got back to their hideout, I grabbed Aang, Peter, Arthur, and Katara from whatever they were doing and told them what happened in the forest. By the looks on their faces, Arthur was angry, Peter was horrified, Aang was skeptical, and Katara was in complete denial. When I finished, Katara stood up. "I'm going to hear Jet's side of the story," she said, and stalked off. Aang looked at me, not really sure what to believe, and chased after Katara. _Might as well see what he was to say_, I thought, and I climbed up to Jet's office.

It was doomed to disaster. As soon as Jet got talking, he told them that the old man was Fire Nation, and that his grandson had a weapon. As much as I protested that nationality wasn't enough to condemn him and that a sickle was a farming tool, Katara refused to believe me. Jet even praised me for saving his life from an assassin, which convinced Aang. Only Peter and Arthur were unconvinced, but then Jet dealt the final blow with a plea for help. "Can't you guys stay a little while longer? At the very least, I need you two to fill up the dam. The Fire Nation is planning on burning the whole forest down! We need your help."

Katara gave me a look that said that it was final. "We're staying," she said firmly. "Aang and I are going to fill the dam. Wait here."

I didn't see her and Aang until we got into our hut for bed.

X

That night, I woke up to a wheel's squeak. I shrugged it off until I heard the sound of another wheel. Was Jet telling the truth? Did the Fire Nation really want to burn the place down? I grabbed my weapons, and crept down to the forest floor. No… those were freedom fighters pushing those barrels! Where were they going?

I followed them along the path that sloped down to the dam. Along the way, I bumped into someone! I almost let out a yelp, but a hand slapped itself over my mouth! It was Peter! He made a motion to be quiet, and Bent a piece of scrap metal to say that he was practicing his Bending. We crawled after Jet together in silence.

WHAM! Ufgh… I couldn't breathe! Pipsqueak the giant grabbed both of us by the neck, and dropped us in front of Jet. "Nice to see you drop in," he said sardonically.

"Can we go home now?" asked Peter.

"We're here to stop you with your scheme!" I shouted. I paused. "As soon as you explain what you're doing."

Jet indicated to the dam. "You see that? What do you think would happen if that dam were to break?"

"You'd waste all the wood put into building it?" Peter guessed, probably to be annoying.

"No!" shouted Jet, irritated. "Sokka, you're a smart guy. What do you think? Why did I send Katara and Aang to fill the reservoir?"

Revelation gripped me. "You're planning to flood the village!"

"Correct," smirked Jet. "Then the Fire Nation troops would be wiped out, and this area would be freed."

"Yeah, and you'd 'liberate' the entire village!" I shouted. "'Liberate' meaning, liberate from this current life!"

"Sokka, Peter," said Jet. "That's what it means to go to war. Sacrifices are important. We can't achieve victory without it!"

Whoosh! Something flew past Jet's leg, and he tripped. A chain! Attached to a sickle… I looked in the direction from where it came… "I would say that you have never seen war," said a male voice… It was the grandson from the forest! He was holding the other end of the chain in one hand, while the other hand was supporting someone who was hanging onto his shoulders…

Ravis popped up from behind the chain guy's head. "Sokka! Peter!" shouted Ravis. The guy from the forest was carrying him piggyback, just like he did with his grandfather.

"Ravis?!" I shouted. "B-but you fell off the tree!"

Ravis's face turned a deep shade of maroon, with only a thin horizontal stripe across his nose and cheeks remaining his usual color. [4] "I… I broke both my legs… I wanted to find you as quickly as possible, so I asked Eduard to carry me."

I gaped, but then regained my composure. "You're the guy I met in the forest!" I yelled at the guy carrying Ravis. "You tripped all of us!"

He looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry for what I did back there… but I thought that you wouldn't have to answer any awkward questions if I tripped you, too."

"That doesn't matter," I waved a hand, disregarding the subject. "Why are you carrying Ravis?"

"Because I broke my legs?" said Ravis uncertainly.

"Just ignore him, Eduard," said Peter. "It's bloody brilliant to see you again."

I turned to Peter. "You know this g- You're Eduard?!" I shouted, suddenly realizing where I heard that name. "Eduard, the guy who's closest to Ravis along with Liet and Feliks!?"

Eduard nodded. "I would say that I was pleased to meet you, but first I think that we have to beat this guy first." BZZZT! Lightning ran the course of the chain, zapping Jet into submission. "There. That should keep him down for a few minutes."

SNAP! I spun around, and Smellerbee was running towards the dam! "She's going to tell them to blow the dam! We've got to go after her!" shouted Peter, and he sprinted.

I looked at the dam, and at the village, measuring the distance. "Don't do it!" I shouted. "You can't fight against all of them at once. My instincts are telling me that! They're also saying that I should evacuate the villagers!"

Without stopping to explain, I set off. Boom! A section of the cliff face elongated, creating a shortcut. "The earth is made of various elements, many of which are metals!" Peter cried after me. "I can Bend any metal, even stuff like potassium and calcium!"

"Great!" I shouted, and slid down the passage. In no time, I reached the village! "ATTENTION VILLAGERS!" I shouted once I was in the town square. "THE DAM WILL BE BLOWN UP BY TERRORISTS! GET OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"

A Fire Nation soldier looked at me doubtfully. "Why should we believe you? For all we know, you're just luring us into an ambush!"

"Hey! You're the guy who hit my boyfriend!" shouted a female soldier.

"That proves it," said the first soldier. "Take him to the-"

"No!" shouted a feeble, yet stubborn voice. The old man that Jet bullied! "This young man tried to defend me against the robbers! He saved me!"

The soldier looked at him with respect. "He did; elder?"

The elder nodded. "We have to get out of here!" he croaked.

"But what about my cabbages!?" shouted the… wait, how did the cabbage merchant get here?

"Take only what you can carry, said the elder. He walked out the gates, and many others followed.

I take it my work here is done… now I have to go back and warn Aang and Katara! I ran up the hill in the general direction of the hideout-

"Took you long enough," said Arthur, who was fighting a one-sided battle with the newly awakened Jet. He seemed to predict every one of Jet's moves, blocking all of his moves with only his left arm, not even moving an inch.

WHOOSH! Aang swept Jet to the side with his Airbending, and Katara slammed him against a tree with Waterbending. "You-you- I trusted you!" she shouted, tears in her eyes. She then froze him to the tree with a passion.

"Yikes…" said Ravis on the sidelines.

"Kind of reminds you of Miss Natalya, doesn't she?" said Eduard.

Ravis shook his head. "No, she's more like Elizabeta."

"How did you guys get here?" I asked.

Arthur turned to me. "I took the liberty of spying on them earlier, so I woke up Aang and Katara. It took me a while to persuade Katara to come, though."

"So you're the one who held us all up," I said to my little sister.

She turned a bright shade of scarlet. She opened her mouth to say something, but then she splashed more water on Jet. "Hey!" he shouted in protest.

"That's what you deserve," she said.

Ravis gave him a sad look. "You say you didn't want anyone else to experience what you went through, right?" he said. "But you were going to do the exact same thing." He shuddered. "Sounds like something that _he'd_ do…"

Eduard shuddered in response. "Jah," he agreed.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked.

They collectively shuddered. "Our ex-boss's ex-boss…" they said in unison. [5]

Appa was right where we left him, and we all hopped on board. "Yip-yip!" shouted Aang, and we flew.

"You're coming, too?" I asked Eduard. "What can you do to fight? I'm the planner-warrior, Katara is a Waterbender, Aang is Airbender and the Avatar, Arthur is an Airbender/swordfighter, Peter is Metalbender/hand-to-hand, and Ravis is an Icebender/swordfighter hybrid. What kind of Bending do you have? I saw you zap Jet…"

Bzt! Lighting crackled between Eduard's fingers. "I Bend electricity," he said. "The chain sickle was just- why are you laughing, Peter?"

Peter was giggling, but he stifled it. "Chainsickle just sounded like a kind of vehicle or a popsicle," he said. [6]

I took advantage of the pause to ask Ravis, "Did you tell Eduard about Liet?"

Ravis gulped, and nodded. "I told him everything," he said.

I turned to Eduard. "Aren't you the least bit worried that he's working with the Fire Nation?"

"Not really," he said calmly.

"Not really?!" I repeated. "Didn't you say that he was the closest thing you two had for family!?"

They flinched at this, but Eduard sighed. "I trust his judgement, him being the oldest and most mature and all… at least; he's the one who keeps everything under control."

"Come on," I said. "Doesn't anyone think that he shouldn't be with the Fire Nation? Arthur?"

Arthur thought for a moment. "Well, it's probably better living with him than with Ivan."

Eduard and Ravis shuddered in sync. "What's wrong?" asked Katara.

"M-mister Ivan…" Eduard began. "You know how he used to crush Ravis's spine? Well, he used to beat all three of us… we still have the scars."

X (Zuko POV)

The island we stopped by had a hot spring, so all of us went to take a long, relaxing bath. All of us except for Liet and I, that is. "Why aren't you with the others?" he asked.

"We don't have time for this," I said. "We should be going after Aang!" I paused. "Why aren't you with them, Liet?"

He blushed. "Ah… you see, I have a few scars… and I don't want to show them to anyone."

I made a gesture that made the burn on my face fairly obvious. Liet blushed an even brighter shade. "Oh, A- Aš atsiprašau," he apologized. "I'll get in… vhy don't you come, too? We have to stop anyvay, you should enjoy the warmth."

I couldn't make any arguments, so I grudgingly followed Liet to the edge of the pool and removed my clothes. Liet took his top off before me, since he only had a few garments whereas I had armor in addition to my clothing, and I gaped when I saw his exposed back.

It was covered in wounds. Lash mark upon lash mark, still bleeding in most parts while white in few others, every square inch of his back had some sort of wound. Whip marks, calluses from chains, and disturbingly, marks from a riding crop. He seemed to notice my peeping, and he turned as red as a cherry. "I-I told you I had scars!" he turned around, revealing that he had more scars on his front as well as his back. These appeared to be sword wounds; battle scars, as opposed to the whip lashes on the back.

"How… how did you…?" I asked, not quite able to process what was in front of me.

Liet sighed. "Many of ze vounds on my front are from fights. Gilbert used to attack me all ze time, along vis many ozzers. I had to fight to survive."

"What about your back?" I asked. I knew that wounds on the back meant that you had run away from a battle, the most dishonorable thing you could do as a warrior. But I couldn't say that…

Liet began to sweat. "M-my ex-boss… he used to beat me and Ravis and Eduard all the time…"

JingleJingleJingle… What was that? Something landed in the clearing next to us… an enemy? But what enemy did we have that could fly? _The Avatar_… "You're mine, Ava-"

"Hello?" a yellow-haired young man emerged from the bushes. He turned and saw Liet. "Liettua!" he cried, throwing himself upon him. "It's been so long!"

"Suomija!" Liet hugged him back.

Suomija let go, and said, "Hi! You can call me Finland, but for now, I'm Santa!"

"What?" I said, confused.

"Sorry, I'm late, but I'm actually here to deliver presents," he said. "Here you go!" He then proceeded to hand each and every one of us a gift, and then stumbled back into the bushes with a friendly wave.

"What was that?" I asked.

"It vould take vay too long to explain," Liet replied.

X (Sokka POV)

We were flying at a pretty good speed, until Aang spotted something next to us. "Over there!" he pointed. "There's a shadow in the clouds!"

"Don't be ridiculous, there's nothing that can fly this high besides us," I said.

"Then how do you explain the flying things that look like reindeer-bears that are pulling a sleigh?" asked Katara sarcastically.

"Yeah right, th-" I broke off when I saw the flying things that looked like reindeer-bears that were pulling a sleigh.

"Tino!" shouted Eduard, who leaned against the edge of Appa's saddle to get closer to the flying sleigh.

"Eduard!" shouted a voice from the sleigh. "Merry Christmas! I really wanted to see you, but all I can do is deliver these presents!"

"Presents?" I asked. "Sweet!"

Boxes flew towards us on rainbow tracks, each of us catching one. "Merry Christmas!" Tino shouted one last time before disappearing into the clouds.

"What's Christmas?" asked Aang. "Is it a holiday?"

"It represents the birth of Christ in our world," said Eduard. "Jesus Christ brought the teachings of Christianity to our world."

"What's Christianity?" asked Aang.

"It's a religion," said Ravis. "There are many different sects… are you stuck on the concept of religion?"

"What's this 'religion' you're talking about?" asked Katara.

Peter, Arthur, Eduard, and Ravis all looked at one another. "We could be sitting here for a long time," said Arthur.

X

Jet struggled to get free from the ice, but to no avail. Katara had frozen him well, and the tree wasn't going to give out any time soon. "H-hello?" said a shy voice from the side. Jet craned his neck to look at the newcomer. "I…I'm sorry, but I can't melt that ice, since I can't interfere with this world… I'll just leave your present here…" He laid it on top of his head.

Jet would have banged his head against the wall, but he was still stuck. Darn.

X

"So this guy was nailed to a cross… by the Romans? Who are the Romans?"

"People who made this huge empire. Ended up subjugating most of Europe."

"What's Europe?"

X

It was cold, snowy, and icy. Canada shivered, curling up with Kumajiro for warmth. "Do you think anyone will find us?" Canada asked.

"Who are you?" asked Kumajiro.

"I'm Canada…"

Someone knocked on the door. "Is that you in there, Canada?" asked Finland. "I'm here as Santa today."

"C-come on in," said Canada, making room by scooting to the side.

Finland entered, and handed Canada a mug of streaming liquid. "I brought you some hot chocolate," he said, and laid a parcel on the floor. "That's your gift. Merry Christmas!"

"M-merry Christmas," replied Canada.

Finland left the igloo, and boarded his sleigh. "And now Prussia is next…"

X

"So you ancestor-worship a guy who wasn't actually your ancestor?"

"It's more like spirit worship, except I'm not sure if he's a spirit or not."

X

Finland had the power to slide down any chimney as Santa, so he left the reindeer out a long way and entered the cavern through the air duct. He slid down with his bag until he hit bottom. "Merry Christmas!" he shouted rather nervously. "I brought…-"

"I VILL SEIZE UND OCCUPY- vait, it's you," Prussia had leapt as him from behind, but stopped when he saw Finland's face. "Happy birth of Christ und all, haf you got any presents?"

"Kyllä," Finland nodded. "Here you go!"

"Danke," said Prussia, and he opened the gift immediately. "Now, I really needed zat wrench. No vone has any ven zay hafen't been invented yet."

"Merry Christmas?" said Finland, who was kind of worried about what Prussia was up to. "Uh… what are you making?"

Prussia grinned. "I um bringing ze Industrial Revolution a few centuries early."

Finland sweated. "That's probably not a good idea…"

"Vell, vhy not?"

"True…" Finland looked up. "By the way, have you got a ladder? Or a grappling hook? I don't know how I'm going to get back up there…"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Nose hair into ringlets- a charm mentioned in _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_. Harry wants to find out how to breathe underwater, and Hermione wonders why anyone would want to turn their nose hairs into ringlets. Fred says that it would be a talking point.

[2] Unable to eat potatoes, America's fault- the 2008 recession hit everyone in the world hard, and it was all America's fault.

[3] Estonia reminding Sokka of Latvia- Livonia was a region that spanned both present-day Estonia and Latvia, and so they were basically under the same name for a long time.

[4] Latvia blushing with a maroon face and a white stripe- that's the Latvian flag. Just an Easter egg.

[5] Ex-boss's Ex-boss- Russia is their ex-boss, Stalin is his ex-boss. Know Stalin? Look him up.

[6] Chain sickle, Chainsickle- funny story about that. I was talking about this chapter with my editor, and I told [**Gender undisclosed**] that Estonia's weapon was a Chain Sickle. But I said it too fast, and said Chainsickle. Try saying it, it sounds like a bike, vehicle, or a popsicle.

What is Prussia doing? Where is he? And how is Finland going to get back up the air duct?


	13. Chapter 13

Okay, this is getting really annoying. I can't tell what Latvia's human name is anymore. Is it Ravis or Raivis? Raivis has something actually come up when I search it on Google, so I'm sticking with it in the meantime.

**Don'tDreamBeIt asked why Lithuania had scars even with rapid healing. Here is the letter to him/her.**

To Don'tDreamBeIt: No, I don't think you're a Poland fangirl. Thanks for understanding about Poland. As for Liet's scars… I stated that wounds inflicted by another nation don't heal as quickly. Prussia's been hitting Lithuania for centuries since he was formed. That probably counts for most of his wounds on the front. The wounds on the back are from Russia, who beat him.

In this episode, the Zhang tribe's name is mispronounced. In Chinese, the zh- sound is pronounced with a j, like how Zhao's name is pronounced. They pronounce it with a clear Z sound.

Note- I modified the placement of the episodes so that I could mix in some of my own plot.

Have you noticed my image for this fic? Every time a new character joins Team Avatar, I put their picture up there. Estonia was the last to join, so it's his picture.

Chapter 13 (Sokka POV)

"Sokka?" Katara asked while we were gathering wood for the fire. "What are you doing? I thought you were going to train with Eduard and Arthur."

I spat out the sunflower seed I was chewing. "Couldn't. When Eduard tried to train me…"

FLASHBACK

"_Eduard!" I called. _

"_Yes?" Eduard turned around from his task of pitching the tent._

"_Can you train me?"_

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

_Eduard picked up his sickle and effortlessly cut a stalk of wheat without even looking at it. "You are from South Pole, am I correct?"_

"_Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"_

"_I am a farmer. Raivis and Liet are farmers." Eduard lifted up the sickle again. "This sickle is for farmers. Have you ever used one?"_

"_No, but what does- Oh, I get it," I said. "The reason why you're good at throwing that is because you've got all these years of getting the feel of it. So should I try using something that I'm already used to? Thanks!" I ran off._

_Eduard blinked. "I did not say that but if you say so…"_

Flashback end

"Okay… but what about Arthur?" Katara asked.

"Even worse," I said.

FLASHBACK

"_Hold your sword like this," said Arthur._

"_Okay," I said, holding it the same way that he showed me. _

"_Now jump to the left," Arthur demonstrated each of his moves, and I tried to mirror them. "Cartwheel backwards, do a barrel roll, and-"_

"_Wait, what was that?" I asked, stuck on the fact that I couldn't do a cartwheel."_

"_DO A BARREL ROLL!" Arthur screeched._

Flashback end.

"So I guess not," said Katara. "What about Raivis?"

"He's too much of a Bender," I said. "Plus, both his legs are broken."

"'Ello, chaps," called Peter, carrying a bushel of apples.

"Peter, do you think that Matthew or Gilbert will train me?" I asked.

"What, you're asking me this right as I say hi?" Peter asked. "But I do believe that Gilbert will be willing to train you. Not too sure about Matthew. Be warned, however: Gilbert's training is apparently very tough."

"Not as hard as being the only non-Bender here," I said.

"Quite true," said Peter.

"And no offense, but when you train me, you talk like you're teaching me how to play a sport," I added. [1]

Peter shrugged. "Well, the only actual combat training that I got from jerk-Arthur was how to work the artillery cannon, and I don't think I can help you there."

"Wait, didn't you say that Arthur trained you?" Katara caught.

"I did, but it wasn't really that important at the time," Arthur stepped in, sword slung over his shoulder and a cask full of water hanging from it. "There wasn't a war going on or anything, so it was more of a just-in-case training session. Besides, it was in hand-to-hand combat, not with a club."

"Just in case?" Katara repeated skeptically. "You taught Peter how to use the… whatever that was, and that was important, right?"

"Yes. Look, there was a war going on!" Arthur snapped.

"And then it stopped? And you're _expecting_ another war, so you taught Peter how to defend himself on an as-needed basis," Katara said. How she managed to get all that, I have no idea.

Arthur looked uncomfortable, but he composed himself in seconds. "No, I wasn't excepting a war. I was expecting a mugging," he said. "By the way," he said, trying to change the subject, "Where are the others?"

"Eduard and Raivis are back at camp," I supplied. "Eduard was supposed to pitch the tent, and Raivis can't do anything right now. Not too sure about Aang."

"Probably back at camp, too," said Peter. "Come on, they're probably waiting.

X

As Peter predicted, Eduard and Raivis were both still there. Since our gang grew to include more than twice as many people, and Gilbert and Matthew were most likely going to join, we bought five more tents in addition to the one we already had. Aang and I slept in one, Katara in another, Raivis and Eduard shared the next, and Peter and Arthur were in the last. Matthew and Gilbert were expected to share one, but we never pitched it. I don't know why Arthur bought a fifth one, but he did.

Raivis and Eduard were sitting on a log, poking a cook fire with an iron rod. They were talking in yet another unrecognizable language. I heard the name "Lietuva" come up several times.

"You're worried about Liet?" I asked. "Come on! He joined Zuko! He's Fire Nation now!"

Arthur scoffed, and Eduard said, "It is not that simple." Peter and Raivis exchanged knowing looks. [2] Inwardly, I groaned at all the secrecy.

Eduard did catch my expression, and said, "I will tell you what we mean later, but not now."

"Right," I said. "Like that makes it any better."

Katara looked around. "Where's Aang?" she asked.

"He went out to look for herbs to help my legs," said Raivis quietly. He caught sight of Katara's sympathetic expression, and blushed. "N-nē, I'm okay…"

"You broke both of your legs," said Katara.

"I'll be okay," he repeated. "We're flying on Appa today, right? Let's leave as soon as Aang gets back."

"Doesn't it take twelve months for a broken bone to heal?" I burst in. "We don't have time to deal with this! Aang has to learn all four elements-"

Before anyone could stop him, Raivis undid his bandages. I once broke my leg, and mine didn't look like that after only a few days… At least ten months of healing occurred in only five days. "No way…" I gaped.

"I… heal fast?" Raivis said. Embarrassed, he pointed at the sky and said, "Look, Aang's back!"

Aang dropped from his glider holding a bucket of herbs. "I've got some stuff!" he shouted.

"Great, but… I don't think we're going to need those," I said. I gestured towards Raivis's leg.

Aang scanned it. "Well, at least we have something just in case!" he said optimistically.

Katara examined his legs more closely. "They may heal fast, but I'd say that you won't be able to walk for at least another day."

Raivis nodded solemnly. "But we can fly on Appa today, right? Is everyone ready?"

I waited for someone to say no. Aang stood up, and pointed south. "We're heading for the Great Divide, the biggest canyon in the world!"

"A~and that's why we're flying it," I said. Eduard lifted Raivis on board Appa, and the rest of us climbed on. I hopped up on top of the helm, and said, "Yip-yip, Appa!"

Appa roared in response, and we flew.

About an hour later, we stopped at the edge of the canyon just to check the view. Meh… just rocks, rocks, and more rocks.

"Wow… it's beautiful…" Katara gaped.

"It's a canyon," said Arthur.

"I would be much happier if it were filled with water," said Eduard. Raivis nodded in agreement. "Like the Baltic Sea," he added. Peter didn't say anything, but I thought he was agreeing with the others.

"HEYYY!" screamed a young man, who was running towards us. "YOU CAN'T HAVE THE CANYON GUIDE~!"

We exchanged glances. "What canyon guide?" asked Peter.

The man gave him a disdainful look. "You mean you don't know?"

"How should we?" Arthur stepped in front of Peter and grabbed his wrist, preventing his brother from punching the man then and there.

The man looked at Arthur with even more disdain. "When was the last time _you_ bathed, girl?" he asked snottily. "Last week?"

This time, both Peter and Raivis had to grab Arthur's entire body and pin him to the ground to stop him from killing this guy. "You- bloody- w-"

"Shut it!" Peter yelped, using the weight of his entire body to keep his brother's head down. "Nomierināties!" screamed Raivis. (**Calm down in Latvian**)

"Hmph," the snotty man said.

Katara moved between us and him. "All right, we get that you don't want us to get the canyon guide. But why?"

"Because the Fire Nation burned down our homes!" snapped the man.

Revelation dawned over Katara. "You're a refugee!"

"That's right! And I'm here to save my spot for my clan- the Gan Jins!" he roared. "Before those Zhang tribe thugs get here!"

"Zhang tribe thugs?" I repeated.

"Don't be fooled by that Gan Jin tribe liar!" roared another man, who was leading a group of raggedy dressed people. No, raggedy was an understatement… those were animal skins! "He's a pig-dog of the Gan Jin tribe, infamous for their lies and deceit!"

The Gan Jin man puffed himself up. "I would never have thought that a stupid Zhang could know a word as big as infamous!"

All of the Zhang tribe yelled and argued with the one Gan Jin man, until a bunch of rocks began to shake. With a loud CRACK, an elderly Earthbender emerged from behind the rubble. "Good mornin, everybody!" he said merrily. "Lookin' for a guide t' get ya 'cross the Great Divide?"

Both the Zhang tribe leader and the Gan Jin man shouted, "I WAS HERE FIRST!" at the exact same time and then glared at one another.

"I came here in advance for my tribe!" shouted the Gan Jin man.

The guide gave him an almost sympathetic look. "I can't take people who aren't here!"

"No, they are," Peter pointed. A procession of overdressed people marched down a pathway, noses wrinkled snobbishly as soon as they caught sight of the Zhang tribe.

"So," the head Gan Jin said loftily. "The stink of the Zhang tribe has penetrated even here."

"And the Gan Jins have had their homes burned down by the Fire Nation too, huh?" the Zhang headsman retorted.

"Then why are you here?"

WHAM! Within the span of a second, Arthur slammed his sword down. "I've had just about enough of this," he said, and he looked it. "Next person who says anything bad about someone else-"

"But the Zhang-"

"The Gan Jins-"

Arthur grabbed the wrists of the headmen and slam-flipped them onto the ground. So hard, that the entire cliff face collapsed. Luckily, Arthur's reflexes were quick enough to grab both men, and he was strong enough to drag them both to safety.

"What in tarnation?" the guide glanced down. "It's a cave! Could this be the legendary Cave of Truth?"

"Cave of Truth?" both headsmen repeated.

"Yeah, the Cave of Truth!" said the guide. "It depicts every single important event in the Earth Kingdom. At least, from two hundred to fifty years ago."

The Zhang Tribe leader gave the Gai Jin leader a superior look. "Ha! That cave can prove that our hero, Wei Jin, was innocent!"

"No, it will prove that Wei Jin was a thief who stole the Sacred Orb from Jin Wei one hundred years ago!" argued the Gan Jin leader.

Arthur slapped both of them. "Quit your bickering and get in the cave! We'll find out the truth in there."

Neither of them could argue about this, so they grudgingly entered the cave. Eduard hefted Raivis onto his shoulders and asked, "Well? Are you coming?"

I really was curious, so me and the other members of our merry band climbed down into the cave.

Inside, there was a timeline stretching from this end to the far end. "You said that it happened a hundred years ago, right?" I asked. "Then let's go to that mark."

Under the mark indicating exactly one hundred years ago, several paragraphs were etched into the stone.

"I can't read this!" shouted the Zhang leader.

"Oh, so the Zhang tribe are so stupid that you- no, I can't read it either," admitted the Gai Jin leader.

"Let me read this out to you," said Peter. '"Jin Wei could not go any further to complete his Ritual of Redemption. So he asked Wei Jin, who was passing by, to carry the Sacred Orb.'"

"Hah!" said the Zhang Tribe leader. "So Wei Jin was wrongfully imprisoned!"

"No… he completes his journey, and goes home," said Peter. "But on the same day, a man also called Wei Jin was arrested for two weeks on the charge of petty littering."

"So there were two Wei Jins?" asked the Zhang tribe leader.

"Yes. But their names were written differently, see?" Peter pointed to the names. "Wei Jin, the man whose name means, 'For the gold' (为 金), completed the ritual for Jin Wei. But the other Wei Jin, 'Not gold' (未 金), littered on that same day."

"But the sacred scrolls-" protested both headsmen, bringing out rolls at the same time.

"Let me take a look at those," said Arthur. After careful scrutiny, he said, "I can see where you went wrong. This does say that a man called Wei Jin crossed the village borders, and that a man called Wei Jin was arrested, but it's in katakana. [3] There's no differentiating between the names, so you naturally thought that they were the same person."

He glared at the headsmen. "When you two get out, you will tell your people what happened. And you will shake hands in front of everyone," he said as if he was using a Jedi-mind-trick.

Both leaders nodded, and bowed to one another. "I am so sorry," said the Gai Jin leader.

"No, I am the one who should be sorry," said the Zhang leader.

They marched outside, hand-in-hand, and began to explain to their respective tribes.

Aang looked at us. "Well, that's one problem solved. Now let's fly!"

X (Zuko POV)

It was music night on board the ship. Uncle dragged me back to play the Tsungi Horn, but Liet shied away. "I do not know your music," he said. "I cannot keep up."

Uncle, however, wasn't about to let him go. "But at least watch! And after we finish this piece, you can play a solo!"

"T-taip," said Liet reluctantly, and he sat down and listened to us play.

When it was (finally) over, Uncle encouraged Liet to play. "Come on, we've never heard music from your parts! Play us something!"

Liet blushed. "I-I am not zat good at playing music…"

Uncle gave a hearty laugh. "But it'll be fun! Go on, play!"

Liet sighed, and brought out an instrument that he called a violin. He put the end of it to his neck and breathed.

And then the magic began. A low-pitched sound came out of nowhere, and formed a beat. A strange beeping noise came out of nowhere, and then Liet began singing. "Nee nee Tėtis Samanė wo kudasai. Nee nee Mama nee nee Mama. Ano toki tabeta Cepelinai no, Ano aji ga wasurerarenai 'n desu."

Underneath those lyrics, I could hear Liet's voice in a completely different language. "Ei ei, tėti, prašau duok man samanės. Ei ei mama, ei ei mama. Tų cepelinų, kuriuos praeitą kartą valgiau, Skonio aš negaliu pamiršti."

At the same time, my head supplied a translation: "Hey hey Tėtis, please give me some Samanė. Hey hey Mama, hey hey Mama. The Cepelinai I ate that time, I can't forget that taste."

"Marukaite Chikuyuu, Marukaite Chikuyuu, Marukaite Chikuyuu, Ritoania desu."

"Nupiešk apskritimą ir tai bus Pasaulis. Nupiešk apskritimą ir tai bus Pasaulis, Nupiešk apskritimą ir tai bus Pasaulis. Aš - Lietuva!"

"Draw a circle, that's the earth. Draw a circle, that's the earth. Draw a circle, that's the earth, I'm Lithuania."

Music came out of nowhere, and Liet kept on singing. Something about cultivating the earth… living on the coast of the Baltic Sea… working with someone called Russia and having a hard time… getting over a harsh history… peace is best… And someone named Poland. There was definitely someone called Poland he was singing about. And after the part about Šakotis being a symbol of love, his violin finally began to move. Liet had stopped singing, but the pure expression of that violin… I could hear many more instruments than just Liet's violin, but Liet only had one…

Finally, Liet began singing again. There was the beeping noise out of nowhere again, and he began singing about friends and Poland again…

Liet was reaching a high point, singing louder and louder, finally ending on a powerful note. And it was over.

All of us gaped at the sheer expression of Liet's song. "H-how…?" Uncle said in shock…

"There was a drum… and a beeping noise… and…" the helmsman said.

Liet blushed from the attention. "I… I had a lot of practice…" he said, scratching his head.

"That was… incredible…" I said at last.

"Do you know any other songs?" asked Uncle.

"Vone," said Liet. "But… it needs three people… and zey are not here. It does not vork visout zem."

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Raivis and Eduard," he said.

That hit me. "Raivis… like that kid with Aang?"

Liet nodded. "Taip. The very same."

Before I could say anything, Uncle separated us. "Come on, there's no point crying over spilt milk." He yawned. "It's late, Prince Zuko. Time for bed!"

Little did I know what was to happen that next morning.

X

I woke up to the sound of someone half-groaning, half-screeching in pain, and the loud and hurried apologies of Liet. I leaned out of my bunk and looked down.

Liet was wrestling with the helmsman, and apologizing profusely in his own language. "I-I am so sorry!" he said at last.

"If you're so sorry, then let go!" shouted John, one of the soldiers. He tried to peel Liet off of the helmsman.

THUD! Quicker than lightning, Liet did a martial arts move that was just a blur to me. What I did see was the result—John was kicked in the face and Liet was on top of him, John on top of the helmsman.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I-ow! Tried to wake Liet up-" said the helmsman. "But this crazy guy flipped me!"

"All right, Liet, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I-I do not know! One moment he tapped me and the next I flipped him!" he wailed, more desperate than I would have thought for a guy who was beating someone up. "Don't touch me, I think that-"

Too late. I tried to roll Liet over, but the next moment pain shot through no less than nine different parts of my body, and a heavy weight crashed into my back. I was lying on my stomach while Liet kneed me in the spine. "Agh! L-Liet! Let go of me-"

"I am trying!" he wailed.

"Just—relax!" said John thought gritted teeth. "Slowly… let go of Prince Zuko, and get off of him so that he can get off of-"

SLAM! The door opened, revealing the captain. "What's all this ruckus!?" he roared. "Private Lietuva, you're in for some discipline!" He tried to grab Liet, but within a second he was added to the body pile.

"I-I'm sorry! I cannot stop hitting people!" Liet said. He paused, appearing to realize something. "Wait…"

"BREAKFAST!" roared the cook, banging a pot with a wooden spoon. Unable to see where he was going, he bumped into Liet and was whirled around like a dervish, only with less dancing and more groaning. "I-I think I broke my arm… No breakfast for you!"

Uncle entered, and looked at Liet. "What in the name of the Spirits is going on here?" he asked.

"That crazy madman attacked us!" shouted the captain.

"I-my body moved on its own!" Liet defended himself.

Uncle gave him an exploratory tap- and sidestepped out of the way before Liet could flip him too. Luckily, his lack of a target got Liet off of the rest of us, allowing the human cat-dogpile to dissipate. "Ugh…" groaned the cook. "I don't think I can make breakfast today… you all will have to deal."

"I'd say that you are very jumpy today," said Uncle. "What happened?"

"I-I sink zat my reflexes are coming back," said Liet shyly. "A long time ago, I used to be attacked almost daily by Teutonic Knights… and my reflexes sharpened in response. I sought zat zey faded over time, but… I vas wrong."

"Maybe it was all this stress," said Uncle.

"Taip," said Liet. "But I do not sink zat zey vill go avay if I am no longer stressed."

I didn't know what to say about that. Was I supposed to say that that was a good thing, or not?

Liet sighed. "Vell, in any case… I vill make breakfast since Adam is injured. Borscht, anyone?"

I said yes noncommittally. "What's borscht?" John asked when Liet left the kitchen.

"No idea," I said.

John regarded me with interest. "You know, Prince Zuko… you've really changed since Liet came here. Less snobby, and you don't yell nearly as much."

"I don't?" I said.

"No. In fact, I don't think that we would be having this conversation at all if Liet didn't come here."

"Really?"

"Yeah… hey, do you mind if I call you Zuko?"

"Sure," I said.

"See! That's what I mean!" said John triumphantly.

"Wait, what?"

"Never mind…"

A little while later, Liet brought us all piping hot soup to the table. It was a dark red color, and it tasted… interesting. [4] "Why's it red?" I asked.

"It's beet soup," said Liet, pulling out a red root from nowhere.

"Interesting…" said Uncle.

Five minutes later, we were interrupted by a ship horn honking. It was Zhao!

"What does he want…?" I asked myself.

The helmsman, whose name must have been Mark, peered at the signaler. "He wants us to go to the nearest island to talk."

"Then let's go."

"That, or he wants to seize and occupy your Silesia."

"I think he meant the first one."

X

"I have captured the Avatar," said Zhao loftily. I took Uncle, Liet, and John to talk to Zhao, while he took an entire squadron. Talk about overkill…

"Vait, vot!?" Liet yelped.

"I said, I have captured the Avatar and I am holding him at Bian Pao Fortr—do I know you from somewhere?" Zhao asked suspiciously. I gulped. Liet did attack his soldiers back at the Crescent Island, but then again, so did I… [5]

"I-I do not know if you know me, I am not you," said Liet quickly.

Zhao looked at him. "But do you know me?"

"No," said Liet with complete honesty. Well, Uncle did tell him who Zhao was, but he didn't know Zhao _personally_.

Zhao was still looking at him as if he wanted to execute him, but he decided to drop the matter. "No matter," he said. "You're going to be reassigned anyway."

Liet gaped. "Ką?!" he shouted, losing himself and speaking in his own language again. (**What**!?)

"Now that Zuko has failed to capture the Avatar, you are no longer needed in-"

Liet raised a shaky hand. "Can I say something? I… never actually joined the Fire Nation army, you see… I followed Zuko, but legally speaking, I'm-"

Zhao made a motion to attack Liet, but was thwarted by Liet's rapid reflexes. Liet grabbed his wrist, stifling the fire that Zhao Bent. He let go in moments. I noticed that he didn't apologize.

Zhao glared at Liet for a moment. "You would make a great addition to our ranks," he said. "Will you-"

"No." Liet said. For the first time, I saw exactly how tall Liet was: very. I never saw it, since he always made himself small, but I could now see clearly that he towered over Zhao.

Zhao folded. "Fine then. But remember, you picked the losing side," he said. He turned around and walked off. "Move out, men! I already had a horrible day yesterday when a man with yellow hair flew down from the sky and gave me a lump of fossilized plant matter, so I'm in a very bad mood today!"

After Zhao's men cleared off and boarded their ship again, Liet collapsed from the stress. "Phew… I'm worried about Raivis and Peter," he said. "If Aang was kidnapped, then they must be there, too."

I looked at him. "You're not worried about Arthur?"

"Not really… he is vay too strong for me to vorry," he said. "But still…"

And then it hit me. "Liet? Zhao said Bian Pao Fortress, right?"

"He did. But vy?"

"No reason," I said quickly. "Hey, maybe we can stay on this island for one day… we need to restock our supplies, right?"

"I guess…?" Liet said.

"Great. I'll tell Mark; we'll just stay here and relax until tomorrow, okay?"

Liet nodded, confused. As much as I hated lying, it had to be done. My plan was coming together; all I had to do was wait until nightfall and slip out. Inwardly, I wondered if Liet was right, Raivis and Peter were caught with Aang, too. Nah… there's no way they'd be THAT stupid.

X (Sokka POV)

"Hey, look! A completely unsuspicious clearing that would be perfect for camping!" I shouted.

"Great, let's set up our tents without any fear of getting kidnapped in the night!" said Peter.

"And there's absolutely no chance of us, say, getting caught in a fire," I added.

"Or being suspended upside down!"

"Or being dropped into a pool of sharks with lasers attached to their fins! What?" I said as everyone stopped to stare. "There's no chance of it… sheesh."

X Later

Ugh… my head hurt… My eyes opened slightly, but the world was just a blur… "Where am I?" I muttered.

"You're in the Fire Nation's special fortress, Bian Pao!" snapped a loud male voice.

Fire Nation!? My vision sharpened, and the soldier facing me was—upside down!? No… I was the one who was upside down! "What did you do to me?!" I roared.

"You are being suspended upside down," said the soldier simply.

"Oh. That explains a lot." I spun my body around to look around. I was in a large room… and, well, that was it. It was big, it had a door, it was painted the usual Fire Nation colors, and I was hanging by my ankles from a rope. My hands were free. Hmmm…

I started to swing backwards, and the antimotion made me swing forwards. Like a pendulum, my movement became wider and wider…

WHAM! The door slammed open, and someone wearing a blue Opera-like mask leapt into the room. The soldier seemed to recognize him. "Y-you're the Blue Sp-"

Whoever he was, the person in the mask pinched him in the neck, and the soldier crumpled. The Blue guy regarded me with an invisible expression, and cut me loose.

After the initial discomfort of falling and having my world oriented again, Blue made the universal motion for 'follow me'. It's not like I had a choice… I scurried after his lead, stopping when he stopped and moving when he did. We encountered few guards, but all were dispatched by Blue's sword.

Eventually, we came to another door. Blue broke the padlock with one of his swords, and kicked it open. Inside were all of our weapons: Aang's staff, Katara's cask, Arthur's sword, Eduard's chain sickles, and my equipment. Raivis kept his knife in his shoe and they probably couldn't get Peter's gauntlet off, so those were absent. I selected my spear, and packed everything but Aang's staff into my backpack.

Next, Blue led us to another large room, identical to the one I was in. In the center was a figure shackled in what seemed to be rubber, chained to a large rock.

"Eduard!" I called, smashing his guard's head in with the butt of my spear.

He jerked awake. "Sokka! Wh-who…?"

Blue remained silent. "I don't know, but he saved me," I supplied. I turned to Blue. "Are you going to rescue our friends?" Blue was silent, but gave a jerky nod. "Well, that's settled, then. I'm coming with him."

Eduard looked at Blue analytically. "Can I have my chain back?" he asked me. I passed the deadly weapon/farming implement to him. "Aitäh." (**Thank you**)

Again, Blue brought the two of us to another room. As soon as Blue opened it-

CRASH! Someone from the inside kicked the guard out the door. Arthur emerged, small knife in hand. Somehow, he cut the ropes. "Took you blokes long enough," he said. I handed him his sword, and he snatched it out of my hands. "Quick, we need to find Peter!"

"Why him?" Eduard asked.

Arthur gestured to the guard he knocked out. "I took the liberty of interrogating him beforehand. He told me that since Peter can Metalbend, they put him in a special containment room! And since there are so many elements that are metals, they got smart and stuck him in a wooden cage next to the magma lake!"

"They built a castle over a magma lake?" asked Eduard. "That does not sound very smart."

"Who cares?! We still need to find Katara!"

Blue tapped me on the shoulder, and indicated us to follow. This time, he took us up a flight of stairs, where Katara was being held. She was glaring daggers at her guard. For her, being handcuffed to a pole seemed to suffice for a suitable imprisonment.

Eduard zapped the guard with ease, seeming to surprise Blue. Arthur picked Katara's handcuff lock. "Who are you?" she asked Blue.

"What, so you're more interested in him than your own brother?" I asked playfully.

"You are more interested in the person who did not do anything?" said Eduard.

"Exactly!"

"You did not do anything, Sokka."

"Shut up, Eduard."

Blue seemed to react to that name, but was still annoyingly silent.

Our next stop was another large room. Aang was in the center, tied to a pole. "Guys!" he shouted. "Help!"

"What do you think we were doing?" Arthur muttered to himself. With a roundhouse kick, he incapacitated the guard. Katara cut the ropes with Waterbending.

"Where to next?" she asked Blue. Blue seemed to be stumped.

"Let's see… all of our prisons were based off of our skills," I said. "Eduard had to have his electricity stopped. I was hung upside down. All of you had prisons that stopped your Bending…"

"But Raivis has remote control over his Bending!" exclaimed Katara. "He doesn't have to move his arms!"

"So it has to be in a place where he can't Icebend!" shouted Arthur. "Follow me, I have a good idea where. I managed to acquire a map a little while ago."

Arthur led us down several flights of stairs, until I began to feel an intense heat radiating from the stones…

"Magma," said Eduard. "Of course. They are holding Raivis where he cannot form ice."

"No time to admire! We've got to move!" I snapped. This heat was making me edgy…

"Here!" Arthur slammed open a door, and slapped the guard with his sword without even looking. Cool…

"Guys!" Raivis called from the back of the room. Like Aang, he was tied to a simple post.

"Raivis!" Eduard called, and cut him free. Raivis hugged him.

"Quit dilly-dallying. We've got to find Peter!" shouted Arthur.

"Wait," said Katara. "Raivis's legs are still broken. We've got to get him out of here!"

"Can't we carry him?" I asked.

"Not if we want to get out of here quickly," said Eduard, to whom the delightful task of carrying Raivis was normally delegated to.

Arthur stepped up to plate. "Fine. We'll do it like this. Eduard is going to carry Raivis out. Katara and I will cover him, since we can fight long-range. Aang, Sokka, and… whatever your name is, you're going to find Peter. Meet us at the big tree next to the rock that looks like a rabbit." He gave me a look. "I trust you with my little brother's life. If any of you dies…"

I could have gotten the idea without the gun and the throat-slashing motion. Either way, Arthur gave us the map, and the three of us ran to the section where Peter was kept.

Peter's prison was a dungeon completely lined with wood. Peter was clearly resisting. He kept on shouting at the guard, who had put on earplugs. We dispatched him easily enough. "Thanks," said Peter once Blue cut up the cage.

SLAM! The door opened, revealing a disgruntled man… what was his name? "So, the rats have escaped," he said. "Well, no matter. After all, I still have the Avatar…"

"Uh… you do realize that he's not tied up or anything?" said Peter.

"Shut up! No one talks like that to Commander Zhao!" said… Zhao. He was _mad_. I could almost see fire coming out of his head… no, wait… That was real fire!

Zhao ignited his hand and shot a jet of flame towards us. Aang blocked it with a gust of air—

"No!" I shouted. All Aang did was make the flame stronger! The fire, instead of going out, latched itself onto the wooden floor…

"RUN! THE PLACE IS ON FIRE!"

I grabbed Aang and Peter and shoved my way past Zhao. Blue was running on the walls next to us, swords still out. From what I could see, the sparks from the fire spread to the corridor, and a fire was raging behind us.

"GET THEM!" Zhao raged, adding more fuel to the fire. Guards from either side came, but Aang was more than a match for them. A whirlwind of air crashed into any unfortunate enough to come into close enough contact.

FWWISH! Some Firebender leapt in front of us and bravely shot a blast of fire at us, but Aang dispatched him soon enough…

"Your mask! It's on fire!" Peter yelped. I saw out of the corners of my eyes, but it was true. Blue's mask was on fire. I had to give him credit. He was silent the whole time, even though a part of his clothing was on fire. Agh, why am I thinking of that at a time like this?!

"There's the door!" Peter yelled. There! Ten more paces… Nine… seven… five… three… one…

FREE! I couldn't see, but I heard Peter seal the entrance behind us. Panting heavily, he pointed west. "I think that's where the rock and tree are," he said between gasps, "but I don't think we can get there with our current stamina. Zhao and his men will get past their own door soon enough, but we'll have just enough time to get to the nearest… cave."

Peter staggered, but I caught him just in time. He fainted… Peter was a good fighter, but his stamina was nowhere near mine. I hunted for the entire Southern Water Tribe ever since Dad and the other men left for the war, so even if I had trouble with human opponents compared to Benders, my physical stamina was much higher than them. Except for Arthur, maybe, since he managed to break an entire cliff just by smashing two people against it. And Zuko, if he managed to do all those martial-arts tricks. Not too sure about Eduard and Raivis, but farming must be easy. Liet did complain about scaling the side of a temple, but he managed to do it without any equipment or getting out of breath.

I scanned the surrounding area. "There!" I pointed. "A cave! We can cover the entrance with leaves while we rest!"

"Good idea," said Aang. He turned to Blue. "We owe you our lives. Won't you at least stay with us?"

Blue was unconscious. Part of his clothing was scorched and I could see burn marks on his exposed skin. I knelt down and heaved him off of the ground, and dragged him and Peter into the cave. Aang gathered heavily leaved branches and threw them over the entrance after him.

There was just enough light for me to make a 'be quiet' gesture to Aang. Just as Peter predicted, Zhao got past Peter's barrier within half an hour. He stormed out of his fortress and barked orders to his men, flashing fire every ten seconds. "FIND THEM!" he roared, blasting random trees with fire. We were lucky that he never thought to look down.

At last, Zhao's men stomped off. Aang let out a sigh of relief. "Are you… okay?" he asked Blue. By this time, the mask was practically ashes. It crumbled at Aang's touch…

I stared at Blue's exposed face—and jumped back. "Z-Zuko…?"

Aang rifled through his pack. "His ankle is twisted. I still have the herbs that I gathered for Peter." He deftly applied the healing herbs to Zuko's leg.

"Are you crazy!? He's a Firebender!" I roared, and immediately regretted it. Never before had I noticed, but I realized how much I _hated_ Firebenders. The war made me think of fire only as a tool for destruction, but Aang knew better. Fire was a part of the balance.

Aang just gave me a sad look. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peter stir. "You know, Sokka," Aang began. "A hundred years ago, one of my best friends was a Firebender. Do you think…? Do you think that Zuko could be friends with us?"

I turned to Peter to ask- but he was still out cold. If he's out, then who did I see-?!

Zuko was awake. His eyes were wide with an emotion that wasn't quite fear… was it shame? Guilt of being rescued by his enemy? He scurried backwards, edging towards the mouth of the cave.

"Wait!" Aang called. Zuko stopped, and turned around. "Thank you for rescuing us~!"

I may have imagined it, but I thought Zuko gave us a slight nod.

X (Latvia POV)

England leaned against the tree trunk. "I'm worried about Peter," he said, and he whipped out a stick of chalk. "Maybe I can summon some help…"

Estonia gave Katara a 'just-go-with-it' look, and she decided not to ask.

England chalked a pentagram onto the tree, and began to chant. "Santa Rita Meta Maeta, Ringo Jonah Tito Marlin… Jack Latoya Janet Michel, Dumbledoa the Explor-"

"Hi!"

"AAH!" England screamed. Sealand was right behind him, along with Sokka and Aang. "Where were you!?" England shouted, mainly at Sealand. "We've been waiting here for hours!"

"Well, we couldn't get all the way here!" Sealand snapped back.

"Oh? And why not?"

"Peter passed out," said Sokka. "So we had to rest for a while."

England seemed to accept this excuse, and gave Sealand one final look. "Just don't make me worry about you ever again," he said finally.

Aww… brotherly love…

"BUT WHY DID YOU PASS OUT!? DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO ALWAYS STAY AWAKE?!"

Or not.

X

After we passed that area by, little did we know what the consequences of England's actions were…

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Sealand training Sokka like a sport: That's the impression I got.

[2] The knowing looks about Lithuania being Fire Nation- what do you think? Lithuania is Lithuania; he can't change his nationality at a drop of a hat… Sokka's choice of words were pretty ironic, weren't they?

[3] About katakana- Katakana is one of the Japanese alphabets. From my limited understanding of Japanese, katakana shows how kanji, or Chinese characters, are pronounced, and I think that it can replace kanji sometimes.

Yeah, that was Lithuania's Marukaite Chikuyuu he was singing. Let's say that nations can actually sing their character songs and have all the instruments from out of nowhere and stuff. The song he is talking about is 'Peace sounds nice', the Baltic character song.

[4] Borscht- I have never had it… at least I don't think I have. So I can't describe the taste.

[5] Bian Pao Fortress- Bian Pao is one word for Fireworks in Chinese.

Note- The reason why Latvia's legs healed in a few days instead of two weeks like I said was because the injury was so severe that it actually healed faster.

Sokka thinks that farming is easy, since he never had to. His worries were the cold and animals back in the South Pole, so he never really saw the hardships of sustenance farming. Still, I'm glad to give him an edge over the Benders.

First person who gets all the references gets a request! No… within reason, of course. No plot-changers. Actually, requests are gladly accepted! Don't be shy.

What did England do wrong? What are Zuko's feelings towards Team Avatar? And what will Iroh say when Zuko comes back late?


End file.
